Digital Realms
by Nolaquen265
Summary: DigiDestined and Tamers alike must stand together to survive the chaos...but now they are separated, and their enemies are closing in... Please read and review!
1. The First Day

Disclaimer: Apparently, I have to tell everyone that I don't own Digimon. Otherwise, Toei can sue me, because _they_ own it. So, I don't own Digimon.

Author's Notes: Hey everyone, and welcome to my Digimon fanfic, **Digital Realms**. This fic is a crossover between Season 02 and Season 3 (Tamers). I've got lots of idea for this fic, and I intend to use them all. When you've finished reading, please review. We only become better writers with constant feedback. So, sit back and buckle up; you're in for a ride.

**Digital Realms**

**Chapter One: The First Day**

XxXxX

/Guilmon's Hut, Shinjuku Central Park, Shinjuku, Tokyo. Monday, June 21st, 2004. 10:40 a.m./

Takato Matsuki groaned as he leaned against the wall of Guilmon's hut. The concrete wall was slightly pitted, and Takato felt the dips in the wall against his back as his bodyweight pushed him against it. Next to him, Guilmon was feasting on what the red, dinosaur Digimon called his "After Breakfast, Before Lunch, Yummy Guilmon Bread-Time Snack". The discarded plastic bag lay empty on the floor next to the carefree Digimon. Takato shook his head as his partner started to choke on a piece of Guilmon Bread that the raptor-like Digimon had neglected to chew properly.

"Guilmon, you're either going to choke and die, or eat all the bread in the bakery and leave us to starve," the exasperated Tamer said as he put a hand to his head.

Guilmon finally swallowed the bread down, his Adam's apple moving up and down in a very amusing fashion, before replying in a childish, cheery voice, "I can't help it, Takato. The bread tastes so good, and my tummy rumbles so much when I don't have bread, I just have to eat it as fast I can!"

"What good does it do you to have bread if you choke yourself on it? Dead Digimon don't eat, you know." Takato rolled his eyes as Guilmon assumed a thoughtful pose. His partner's ears were twitching as he held a claw to his chin, scratching it thoughtfully.

At last, the Digimon replied happily, "Then it's a good thing I'm not dead!" He then continued to shovel bread into his mouth, chewing loudly.

Takato sweatdropped as he watched his partner stuff his mouth. '_Well, at least I don't really have to worry about Guilmon eating everything we bake. It's a good thing Yamaki and Hypnos chip in when it comes to taking care of our Digimon. If they didn't, a couple of their 'employees' would run out of food faster than Guilmon goes through a loaf of bread!'_

As Takato watched his partner eat faster than was probably healthy, he thought to himself, _'When did things actually settle into this routine? During the school year, I get up, drop Guilmon off at the park, go to school, bring bread to Guilmon afterwards, and then hang around with him or the others until dinner…and during the summer, we just hang around.'_

Takato shook his head in bemusement. That was pretty much how things had been for the last three years. And yet the time seemed to pass so quickly.

_'When did everything start to become so commonplace, so _normal_? I mean, you'd expect more things to happen around here, considering we have real, live Digimon partners living here in the Real World with us. Sure, there's the occasional wild Digimon who bio-emerges, but Yamaki just has us go take care of it when that happens. Send it back to the Digital World, find it a home here in the Real World, fight it if we don't have any other choice, whatever…but nothing else really happens. Well, except for Guilmon raiding the cafeteria right before school let out for the summer. That was bad…'_

Takato winced. The school faculty had, surprisingly, turned pretty much a blind eye to the incident (excepting for a number of weary glares from Ms. Asaji, who had become a teacher at the high school where most of the Tamers went), but it was doubtful anyone at the school would ever forget it. There had been _way_ too much food in the air for that…

_'Anyway, it's just so weird. Three years, and our lives have been…well, normal. It almost doesn't feel right.'_

Takato shook his head._ 'I guess we just changed too much back when we were out having adventures. We got used to the action, the danger, the excitement, and now that we have nothing real to worry about or fight, we basically have to live our old lives. The only real difference is our partners and working for Hypnos now and then. It sort of feels like trying to stuff a square into a circular hole in one of those little kids' toys…' _

_'Ah, maybe it's just me…'_

"Takato…?"

"Yeah, Guilmon?" Takato asked bemusedly, lost in his thoughts.

"…can't…breathe…"

Takato sweatdropped as Guilmon once again began to choke on his bread. As the raptor-like Digimon hacked and coughed, Takato again returned to that age-old question: _How does one administer the Heimlich Maneuver to a Digimon?_

XxXxX

/Henry Wong's Apartment, Shinjuku. 11:25 a.m./

Henry Wong sat in front of his computer, his eyes skimming over various news reports on the web. Beside him, Terriermon was playing a video game on Henry's Playstation Two. The rabbit-dog Digimon's long ears were flopping around as he twisted the controller in his small hands this way and that, intent on keeping his character on screen alive.

"No…no, move the other way…Ah! Bad guy, bad guy! Get him, get him!"

"Terriermon, you do realize that shouting and dancing around in front of the TV isn't helping, don't you?" Henry asked, not taking his eyes from the computer screen.

Terriermon tapped a few buttons with his small fingers, still jerking around in synch with his character in the game. "Of course I realize that, Henry, but…no, not that way…it's not quite…as…fun…without…getting all…EXCITED! LOOK OUT!" With a simulated cry, Terriermon's character fell in battle, leaving Terriermon scowling and not very amused.

"Momentai, little one," Henry said with a small grin, before Terriermon could throw a fit.

The little Digimon sighed and dropped the controller. Jumping up, one of Terriermon's long ears wrapped around Henry's right shoulder as the Digimon settled on the left, hanging on like a sleeping man slung over a horse.

"Anything interesting happening lately?" Terriermon asked, reading over his partner's shoulder.

Henry shook his head. "Slow day." It was true enough. Not a single Digimon had bio-emerged in the last week, the news was currently running stories about circus animals, and Henry had run out of nifty electronic devices to upgrade his computer with.

Definitely a slow day.

Henry leaned back in his chair and yawned widely. Terriermon, who was still hanging from Henry's shoulder, lost his grip and fell to the floor of Henry's bedroom with a _thud_.

"Geez, Henry. Next time could you try and remember when you've got a Digimon on your shoulder?" Terriermon said as he stood up, rubbing his behind.

Henry chuckled. "Sorry, Terriermon. Next time I'll let you know when I want to stretch and yawn."

"Are you being sarcastic? You are, aren't you?"

"I learned from the best." Henry turned back to his computer, opening a new browser. Maybe there was something else interesting on the web…

"I am the best, aren't I?" Terriermon hopped up onto the desk as Henry clicked on random news articles and links. "I wonder if I could get my own show. Like as a stand-up comedian or something…"

Henry chuckled again. "When you stop eating twice your weight at the dinner table, maybe."

"Are you implying I'm fat?" Terriermon sucked in his gut, even as his cheeks puffed out with air. "Look a' me, I'm buff!" The small Digimon's voice was slightly muffled through his closed mouth, but his meaning was understandable.

Henry reached out and poked Terriermon's stomach with a finger. The rabbit-dog's breath was released as his ticklish side got the better of him. "Sure, and I'm the Prime Minister."

Terriermon frowned as he rubbed his stomach. "Well, I could be. And I'm not the Pillsbury Doughboy, alright?"

Henry just nodded absentmindedly as he turned back to his computer. Terriermon, his ego still smarting a little, jumped back down to the floor and went back to his game.

"Henwy! We're going on a picnic! Let's go, let's go!"

Although Suzie's speech had vastly improved over the last three years, and she now pronounced most of her _r_'s properly, she still insisted on repeating her older brother's name as "Henwy". It was endearing most of the time, and it showed that the little girl, now ten, still had a streak of childishness in her that had so far refused to disappear, even in the face of her duties as a Tamer.

And now Suzie made her entrance with Lopmon, her partner. Lopmon, who looked almost exactly like Terriermon except for the extra two horns on her head and the deep, chocolate color of her fur, was the exact opposite of Terriermon personality-wise. While Terriermon was mischievous, sarcastic, and laidback, Lopmon was dutiful, polite, and proper. The contrast between the otherwise alike Digimon was rather funny, especially considering their human partners.

Now, Suzie, at age ten, had grown quite a lot in the last few years. Henry, who was slightly taller than most people in his class, had been rather dismayed one day to find that his little sister, five years younger than him, had almost reached his shoulders in height. The young girl was obviously the tallest in her class, and it seemed that it would stay that way. Terriermon had found Henry's reaction most amusing, until Henry told him, in a rather annoyed tone, that Suzie was probably still capable of the "Pwincess-Pwetty-Pants Tweatment". Terriermon had wisely shut up after that.

Now Suzie and Lopmon stood at Henry's bedroom door, the former impatiently tapping her foot like a young child. Lopmon merely stood by meekly, bemusedly watching Terriermon again enter his "twitch-dance-yell" video game routine.

Henry at last turned his head. "Picnic? When was this decided?"

Suzie sighed exasperatedly, as though she was attempting to explain something very simple to a young child who had no interest in learning what she had to teach. The image was so clear, in fact, that Henry felt a moment of vertigo as he envisioned a grown-up Suzie speaking to a young Henry.

Henry shuddered.

Suzie continued, not noticing Henry's temporary unease. "Daddy's home from work early and Mama says we're going out to the park to eat. That's why!"

_'Okay…'_

Henry, now over his somewhat disconcerting mental image, merely shrugged. Why not? It wasn't like he was doing anything right now, and surely Terriermon could find something more worthwhile to do in the park than…dancing in front of the TV. As he now seemed to be doing.

Henry sweatdropped at his partner, who was yelling something about being an 'uber awesome super cool king of the hill' while jumping around, holding two of his fingers in the 'V for Victory' symbol. Yes, Terriermon could definitely find something better to do.

"Fine…I'll be along in a second." Henry turned back to his computer to shut it down. But then, something caught his eye.

"Now what's this?" He asked himself aloud, and clicked on the news article. A moment later, the full article, with a picture of a red-haired girl Henry's own age, loaded onto the computer screen. Henry looked at the picture in surprise; the girl was wearing a stylish dress and what had to be loads of makeup. But even past the clothes and the rouge, Henry recognized the violet-eyed girl instantly…and winced. His eyes shifted towards the written article and began to read it aloud. Suzie, Lopmon, and Terriermon, now finished with his victory dance, crowded around him.

"'The daughter of a famous model has made her debut in the world of fashion, turning heads with her devil-may-care attitude and an icy personality. Yet it is said by many that the cold air she carries herself with hides a sensitive, warm heart overflowing with compassion and understanding. Many young suitors have already shifted their eyes towards this new beauty, who does not need her mother's influence or popularity to sway her generation…'" Henry stopped reading as his face contorted with a curious mixture of surprise, confusion, befuddlement, and above all, pity. _'She's going to kill whoever wrote this…wouldn't be surprised if it was Ryo…'_

"Is that Rika?" Suzie asked in bewilderment as she looked over Henry's shoulder at the picture of the fiery girl in a dress.

The four stared at the computer screen, their eyes riveted towards the 'new beauty' of the fashion world.

Terriermon voiced all their thoughts. "Boy, she looks angry."

XxXxX

/Downtown Photographic Studio, Shinjuku. 12:57 p.m./

Rika Nonaka was angry. More than that, she was ready to kill the photographer who wouldn't get out of her face with his stupid flash camera. Not to mention whoever had written that ridiculous news piece…it could have been Ryo, wherever that jerk was…

Rika shot a glare towards her right, offset. Her mother, who had entered the photo studio with both Rika and high hopes, had now settled down to a saddened and uncomfortable air; it seemed she would be leaving without those high hopes…and perhaps Rika as well, if things kept up as they were.

_Flash!_ "Look at me, baby!" _Flash! Flash! _"This is perfect! Keep that angry face! Oh, this is _fantastic!_" _Flash! Flash! Flash!_ The photographer had obviously mistaken Rika's growing rage for something that might be vaguely artistic…in a dark, dangerous, 'I'm-Going-To-Kill-You' sort of way.

The stupid dress itched and pinched her body in uncomfortable places, the lights were hot and she couldn't stop sweating, the camera wouldn't stop flashing in her eyes (she was half-blind by this point, though she could still see the photographer, to his misfortune), and the stupid, _stupid_ photographer would not stop talking. It seemed he thought of it as encouragement. Rika thought of it as his death sentence being repeated over and over again.

_Flash! Flash!_ "Beautiful! Just like your mother! I'll bet you'll be just as famous as her someday!" _Flash!_

That did it. The proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. All of Rika's pent-up emotions (she really had done a good job of restraining herself so far) now poured out in one angry movement. Once, in a similar situation, Rika had pushed the camera away, and run out. No such restraint this time.

_POW!_

The photographer yelped in pain as Rika's fist gave the man's _very_ expensive photographing tool the camera's equivalent of a broken nose. She had punched straight, and her knuckles smashed into the camera's lenses hard enough to break them. Of course, when objects are hit by something very hard, they have a tendency to move backwards with the motion of the object that hit them. In this case, the camera had to go back with Rika's fist…towards the photographer's face.

Hence the yelp of pain.

As Rika's mother, Rumiko Nonaka, and several other people who had been standing around watching rushed to help the poor man, Rika stormed off to the nearby dressing room. When she was inside, she reached down and tore the dress off her body. She didn't stop there, though. Once it was off her, she continued to tear it apart again and again, until only scraps of soft fabric were left. With a cry of frustration, she tossed the remains of her dress (it had undoubtedly been worth several hundred dollars before she had worn it) up into the air like confetti. Grabbing her jeans and then her t-shirt, which had the familiar blue heart in the center, she pulled on her clothes and then slammed the door open. Barely glancing at the mess of people just in front of the colored backdrop of the set, she half-ran out the doors of the studio, ignoring her mother as she cried out to her daughter. She didn't stop until she was out of the stupid building and on another street, heading south.

At this point, she finally slowed to a walk, and stuck her hands in her pockets dejectedly. She had some vague notion of going home, but immediately dismissed the idea. Perhaps the park…

"I saw that didn't go so well," Renamon said dryly as she materialized in the shadows of an alley next to Rika.

Rika gave an angry _humph_ before continuing on. Renamon half-smiled before disappearing. At the next alley that intersected Rika's path, the fox-like Digimon appeared again. "Gatomon got your tongue?" She asked her human partner with only the slightest trace of amusement.

Rika scowled as she stopped. There weren't many people on this street at the moment, for which Rika was profoundly thankful. She turned to Renamon with a flinty glare before yelling vehemently, "I don't know why the heck I let my mother talk me into that! I knew I wouldn't like it, I knew I couldn't stand it, but did I tell her that? No! I was a softie and agreed because I thought she'd appreciate it! Shows me for doing something nice like that for her…"

"You got through the session the day before last just fine, didn't you? The one where those photos ended up in the news?" Renamon asked. Her good humor was only just showing in her voice now, but she was still chuckling mentally.

Rika groaned. "Barely. This one, though..." Rika cracked her knuckles in a very un-ladylike fashion, fixing a death glare on the nearest trashcan. It almost melted.

"Anyway, I am _not_ doing that again! Ever!" She turned back away from the alley, fully intent on continuing her walk.

Renamon poked her head around the corner and looked both ways before determining no-one would notice if she stepped out. She did so, and walked alongside her partner silently. Rika, on her side, was glad of the silence, but a small part of her was screaming at her to go back to that building and hit the stupid man the _right_ way, not just leave him with a broken camera and a little bruise on his face. As she thought of this, Rika brought up the hand she had punched the camera with and found it to still be clenched. It was, in fact, bleeding.

Renamon noticed this, and quietly reprimanded herself for not noticing this before. Surely she would have smelled her partner's blood; a small stream of it was slowly flowing down the teen's tight fist. "Rika, you're hurt."

Rika scowled again, and she pulled out a small shard of glass from between two of her knuckles. Definitely from the camera lens. "Yeah." The girl stopped, turned back, and hurled the small piece of glass as far away as she could. Maybe if she was lucky, that stupid photographer would step on it later. '_Now you're being ridiculous,' _she told herself a moment later as she tried to regain her calm.

Unknown to Rika, however, she wasn't the stupid photographer's only difficult subject. Later that day, another enraged girl would smash his foot with the man's _other_ very expensive camera, and then proceed to stomp on that foot repeatedly. In fact, his foot would swell up so much that the man would take his shoe off to relieve the pain, and would not be able to put it back on afterwards. The poor, unlucky photographer, who didn't understand why so many attractive young women attacked him in his workplace, would walk home with one shoe on his good foot and the other in his hand.

Glass pierces socks much more readily than it does shoes. Need I say more?

Rika let out an exasperated breath, and then turned back to her original course. As she walked, Renamon asked, "Where are we going, Rika?"

Rika considered this question as her anger slowly drained away. Where was a good place to go? The answer came a moment later.

"The park." Rika said, her voice now calm. It was a good place to think and relax. Heck, if she still needed to punch someone when they got there, Kazu might always be around.

XxXxX

/Outside Guilmon's Hut, Shinjuku Central Park, Shinjuku. 2:23 p.m./

Kenta Kitagawa groaned as Kazu Shioda flipped over his latest card, sealing Kenta's fifth defeat in a row. As Kenta flopped backwards onto the grass outside Guilmon's hut, his partner, MarineAngemon, flew above his head and made distressed chirruping noises. Guardromon, Kazu's large, metallic partner, elected to raise his fist in the air and said, "Huzzah!" Kazu joined in spiritedly as Takato, Guilmon, Jeri, and Calumon looked on in varying degrees of amusement.

Jeri Katou, her brown hair hanging just below her shoulder line, giggled as Calumon jumped up and joined Kazu and Guardromon in their celebrations. Takato just smiled as he watched the little Digimon, who was a regular resident at Jeri's house when he wasn't wandering about the city. Guilmon merely stared in confusion at the card Kazu had played. The subtlety of such an intricate card combo had been lost on the dinosaur. On the other hand, Kenta had no such problems comprehending how well he had been beaten.

Kazu finally settled down enough to ask Kenta, "Another game?"

Kenta just moaned, covering his glasses with his hands. MarineAngemon decided to answer for his partner by shaking his head, then went back to attempting to rouse Kenta from his miserable state.

Takato chuckled, and said, "Time to leave him alone, I think."

"Humph." Kazu picked up his cards lovingly as he shuffled them back into his deck carefully. "If you're gonna play the game, then you oughta be able to play against me and win at least once during the whole day."

"But we haven't even been playing for more than two hours!" Kenta said, sounding rather annoyed.

Kazu shrugged. "You get my point, right?"

Jeri cocked her head. "Not really," she needled her friend while concealing a sly grin.

Kazu considered this for a moment before shrugging again. "Look, Kenta hasn't beaten me for the last week. That's just the way it is."

"You're just better than Kenta. You've played the game more. In fact, I think you're obsessed."

"Am not! It's just part of being a Tamer! You've got to know how to strategize, how to outthink your opponent, how to—"

"—memorize your opponent's deck?" Takato asked with a grin.

Kazu turned to Takato with an exasperated look. "Do you want to play me, Chumley?"

Takato shook his head, still grinning. Jeri pulled out her deck of cards from her purse and asked, with a steely glint in her eyes that, surprisingly, only Rika could match, "Do you want to play _me_, Kazu?"

Kazu's exasperated look changed to a more nervous one. "N-no, I bet it'd be a really boring game for you. I mean, Rika's been teaching you for the past few years, after all, so I don't think…" Kazu slowly put his cards in his pocket, as though moving at a snail's pace would save him from a terrible, painful fate.

Hey, an ego bruising can be quite painful. Just ask Kazu. Rika shows him that all the time.

Guardromon chose this opportune moment to speak up. "My partner never backs down from a challenge! Prepare, milady, as Kazu unleashes his fearsome skills!"

Kazu slammed his fist against Guardromon's metal side. "Thanks buddy, but I really don't need the support right now."

"You need all the support you can get, doofus." Seven heads turned at the new voice, which turned out to be…

"Rika! Renamon! Good to see you! And I'll ignore that snide comment," Kazu added in an undertone, as he waved at the approaching pair.

Rika chose not to reply, instead sitting down next to Jeri as the other girl made room. Renamon stood behind her, just outside the circle the Tamers had formed. Calumon, with nothing else interesting to do at the moment, leapt up into the red-haired girl's lap. His ears expanded out as he smiled up at Rika. The teen girl spared a small smile for the cute In-Training Digimon before looking up.

"So, what have you been up to, Rika?" Kenta asked as he picked up his cards off the battle mat.

Rika's expression darkened perceptibly. Now it was close to what the Tamers called 'Danger Mode'. She replied curtly, "You don't want to know."

Which really meant that Rika didn't want them to know. Which, by extension, now meant that the other Tamers didn't want to know anymore. A riled Rika was something to be avoided at all cost. This was a hard lesson that Kazu neglected to remember far too often for his own good.

Fortunately, this was one of those rare occasions where he actually _did_ remember, and the brown haired teen wisely remained silent, opting instead to watch as Kenta shuffled his cards somewhat nervously under Rika's icy regard.

The silence that followed was broken only by Calumon's contented sighs and MarineAngemon's amusing chirrups as he hovered near his partner's moving hands. When at last Takato decided to speak up, Guilmon beat him to it. The raptor-like Digimon raised his head from his claws and sniffed the air several times. Takato blinked, and was about to ask, when Guilmon spoke. "I smell Terriermon. And Lopmon, too."

Guilmon's nose was hard to fool, as Takato had learned several times while attempting to hide bread from his friend. In any case, the nose was right now. After only a few moments, Terriermon's laidback voice sounded from down the path in front of Guilmon's hut. "Hey, everybody! What's happening?"

Guilmon answered happily, in his childlike voice, "Hi, Terriermon!" and waved his clawed hand in the air above his head.

Takato and the rest of their group, Tamer and Digimon alike, turned their heads to the path. Walking towards them were Henry, Terriermon, Suzie, and Lopmon. Terriermon was hanging onto Henry's shoulders again, and he waved a small hand. Suzie copied the gesture excitedly. Being a Tamer came with several privileges. One was hanging out with the older kids.

Takato stood, and yelled down the path, "Hey, Henry! What's going on?"

As the four neared, Henry answered, "Just came from a family picnic. Terriermon said he heard you guys nearby, so we decided to drop by afterwards. Looks like we'll be here awhile."

Takato grinned as the four joined the large circle. It was a good thing none of the Digimon were any bigger than Guardromon; it would have been a little tight between Guilmon's hut and the surrounding trees.

Terriermon, who was still hanging over Henry's left shoulder, said, "Hey, Rika, guess what?"

Rika turned to the rabbit-dog with a cool look in her eyes. Terriermon, oblivious to his peril, continued, "Henry found an article about you on the computer! It was saying something about a fashion shoot and your mom, and it had a picture of you in a pretty dress and all…this…makeup…" Terriermon audibly gulped and ducked behind Henry as Rika's eyes flashed dangerously. "Please don't hurt me."

Next to Kazu, Terriermon was the single person who most often unleashed Rika's dark side.

Henry held up his hands in a pacifying gesture. "Just ignore him, Rika. He's only…well, being Terriermon." Henry scratched his head sheepishly. "I don't think I can explain it any better than that, can I?"

Rika, ignoring Henry's advice, said to Terriermon, who was peeking over Henry's shoulder, "Hey, Rabbitmon. I've got something for you to think over."

"What's that?" The Digimon asked cautiously.

Rika smiled a very cool smile indeed. "Have you ever heard the saying, 'silent as the grave'?"

Terriermon gulped again. "You've made your point, Rika."

Kazu, who was snickering quietly, clammed up immediately as Rika whipped around to him. "Don't think I've forgotten you."

"What did _I_ do?" Kazu asked loudly in an annoyed tone.

"Don't think I don't know who left those Numemon in my room."

Kazu mimicked Terriermon's earlier actions and gulped loudly. "You, uh, knew that was me, huh?" The brown-haired teen was slowly inching his way backwards across the grass. Unfortunately, Guardromon was right behind him, so Kazu was almost literally stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Rika smiled yet another chilling smile. "Oh, don't worry yet. Like they say, 'revenge is best served cold'."

"That's reassuring." Kazu replied as he sweatdropped.

The group, minus Rika and Kazu, laughed at the exchange. It was almost commonplace, as were Kazu's practical jokes. Though they didn't often involve Digimon, Kazu was still well known for his outrageous pranks around the school. When it came to detention, Kazu could probably be compared to Davis Motomiya from the popular Digimon anime that still ran on TV.

How appropriate…

Jeri, evidently deciding that it was time to put a stop to the threats (all of which had come from Rika so far), asked Henry, "Um, what have you been doing lately, Henry?"

Henry turned his attention from the glares being exchanged between Rika and Kazu (well, to be honest, the glares were coming from Rika while Kazu settled for a few nervous glances underneath his old visor). "Not much, really. There just isn't much happening these days."

Kenta nodded his head in agreement. "No Digimon have shown up in the last week, school's out for the summer, and I'm bored to tears. Plus, Kazu keeps thrashing me in the card game." With a disappointed sigh, the greenish-blue haired boy tucked his deck of cards into his pocket before folding up the card mat.

"I can help you with the game, Kenta! Rika's taught me all she can!" Jeri exclaimed happily.

Kenta shook his head. "Thanks, but if I'm going to lose to Kazu, I'd rather lose my own way."

Henry raised his eyebrows. "Meaning…?"

Kazu interrupted, "He means he'd rather lose miserably than be taught by a girl who's good at the game and then _still _lose miserably."

Jeri cocked her head. "Was that a compliment?"

Takato replied with a grin, "That depends. I'm pretty sure that didn't sound quite as nice to Kenta as it did to you."

"Rub it in, why don't ya?" Kenta moaned as he flopped back onto the grass again.

Another round of laughs. This time Rika joined in softly.

When at last the laughter had died, Takato asked, "What are we going to do now? Yamaki hasn't called, and we have the rest of the afternoon…not to mention the rest of the summer…"

"Tag! Tag! Let's play tag!" Suzie shouted as she jumped up and down. Terriermon joined her, his ears flopping up and down. The rest of the group, including Lopmon, sweatdropped as they watched the pair dance around and chant.

Jeri then smiled slyly. "Well, if we're going to play tag…" She sent a mischievous look around the circle. Henry, who was sitting next to Kazu, picked up on it immediately. "…then…"

"KAZU'S IT!" the group roared as one. Both Jeri and Henry reached out and pushed Kazu to the ground. Though it wasn't much of a fall, seeing as he was sitting down, the teen was still startled enough to yell "Hey!" as he fell over. The circle broke as the Tamers and their partners scattered in every direction. Kazu got to his feet as fast as he could, looked around in confusion, and wailed, "WHY DOES EVERYONE ALWAYS PICK ON ME?"

Guardromon, with his impeccable timing for sincere responses, replied cheerfully, "I believe everyone loves the fool best."

XxXxX

/Outside Guilmon's Hut, Shinjuku Central Park, Shinjuku. 6:47 p.m./

Takato stood in front of Guilmon's concrete hut while he and his partner waved as the last of the Tamers walked home. When they were finally lost to sight (but not sound; he could still faintly hear Rika and Kazu bickering), Takato turned to the west. Though the horizon was blocked by skyscrapers and tall buildings, he could just see the sun setting behind them. The sky was tinged a reddish hue, almost crimson. The golden light of the failing sun settled on the greenery of the park, lightening the color of the leaves. Even the clouds had taken on a golden color as they slowly rolled across the red sky.

The brown haired Tamer turned to his friend and said, "You know, Guilmon, even if we have nothing useful to do, it's nice to have great friends and a good home to enjoy it all."

The red dinosaur looked up at Takato, nodded, and smiled happily. "Uh-huh! And Guilmon Bread, too!"

Takato sweatdropped as he grinned back. _'I wonder if he's addicted…'_

As Takato turned back to the golden sunset, he couldn't help but think, '_Still, it'd be nice if we could do something important again. We saved our world once, and everything since then has been alright, but I almost want to do something like that again. It makes you feel…needed. Like people really appreciate your helping them. Not that people don't feel that way about us now, but…I almost want something bigger…more meaningful.'_

As he thought these things, standing in the failing light of the sun, a small piece of wisdom intruded into his mind. _Be careful what you wish for, Takato Matsuki. You just might get it._

Takato considered this piece of advice for a moment. _'That's probably right. I might be asking to bite off something bigger than all of us can chew. Still…'_

Standing beside his partner, Takato Matsuki watched as the setting sun dyed the sky an even deeper crimson.

_'…I hope there's something more out there, waiting for us.'_

XxXxX

The wheels of fate are rarely directed by human desires. But, sometimes, fate and desire run together; even if neither knows it at first.

XxXxX

Author's Notes: Well, there's the first chapter. If you have any questions, let me know.

If it sounded like I was bashing anyone (namely Kazu and Ryo), let me assure you, I wasn't. I like all the characters from Digimon; they each have something that makes them unique, and I think most of them are believable. Of course, a little teasing isn't out of the question. ;)

Anyway, Ryo makes his appearance later in the next chapter, along with a few other familiar faces who didn't get their spotlight this time around.

And speaking of the next chapter…well, that's where things really start. This was the work crew setting up the stage. Next comes the action and the plot…as well as the villains…

And don't forget to review! Till next time.


	2. Flames of Odaiba

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon. If you see a Digimon that you don't recognize (check Wikipedia or TheDigiPort to be sure), then I probably created it. And I _do_ own the Digimon I create. I don't really profit from owning them, but they add to the story.

A/N: For the purposes of this fic, the events of the following movies are _in _continuity: _Our War Game, Revenge of Diaboromon, Battle of Adventurers, _and _Runaway Locomon_. That'll make things clearer when you read this.

Be warned. The following chapter includes mild violence and death. That's part of why this fic is rated T (besides the fact that the rating K+ just doesn't seem to handle much of interest in a fic as long as this one). On the upside, the only people (and Digimon) who die in this chapter are faceless strangers, the kind that you see on the streets during rush hour. So don't worry too much; I'm not killing anyone important…yet.

On to the story!

**Chapter Two: Flames of Odaiba**

XxXxX

/Odaiba, Tokyo. Monday, June 21st, 2004. 7:37 p.m./

The skies over Odaiba were the same bloody, crimson color as those over Takato's Shinjuku, but for a very different reason.

Odaiba was in flames.

Nearly a third of the man-made island was burning; most of the buildings in that area, even the skyscrapers and towering commercial buildings, had been caught in the blaze like tinder. The rest of the city was buried in ashy smoke and screams.

People were running in the streets, fleeing for their lives as some tightly clutched small children or a few valuables. Some of the humans in the multitude had Digivices in their pockets or on their belts, but these were mostly forgotten as their owners fled alongside their Digimon partners in the midst of the madness. Most of these partners were In-Training or Rookie Digimon; any that tried to fight were immediately reduced to data.

And all of these beings were being pursued by the _other_ Digimon. The Dark Digimon.

Laughing maniacally, hordes of evil Digimon roared in mad delight as the puny humans and weak Digimon tried to flee. Many in the choked streets tried in vain, as the Digimon descended from the air, leapt out from dark alleys, or poured out of the burning buildings, leaving nothing intact behind them.

There were nearly two hundred Bakemon throughout Odaiba. The Champion-level Ghost Digimon leered sadistically at the terrified populace as they ran. The Bakemon followed at their leisure, their ragged sheets flapping in the wind spawned by the intense fires nearby. Many of the fires had been started by Meramon or SkullMeramon. These fiery Digimon moved from building to building, burning everything as they went.

Airdramon and Devidramon, swooping from the sky to snatch up unfortunate stragglers in their great mouths or wicked claws, wheeled above and weaved between the sooty skyscrapers of downtown Odaiba. There were even a few WarDevidramon, the Ultimate form of the Dark Dragon Digimon. These massive Digimon settled for sitting atop the skyscrapers, observing the chaos below with their six eyes and breathing in the fear rising up like smoke. Occasionally, one of these WarDevidramon would reach out and swat another airborne Digimon, sadistically forcing their fellows to drop their captives nearly twenty or thirty stories to the pavement below. Most of the unfortunate sky-divers were humans, but a few were Digimon partners. These victims dissipated into data a moment or two after hitting the pavement; the humans who fell weren't granted the same clean deaths.

On the ground, humans and partner Digimon screamed together as they ran. Packed together, they were targets of surprisingly few attacks; the evil Digimon seemed more interested in scaring them out of their wits. The few who fell behind were picked off by the Bakemon or the airborne Digimon. These kills were purely for sport. Many of the evil Digimon had been trapped in the Dark Area for ages, and they were very pleased to at last be able to exercise their powers. They wanted the fun to last as long as possible.

The panicked crowds had one real idea lodged in their minds; get to the docks or across the Rainbow Bridge. If they could get across the river, chances were they would be safe, if only for a little while. And so, the mob ran and shoved their way to the water's edge and piled into the ferries that rocked in the turbulent waters, or stampeded across the great bridge crossing Tokyo Bay. The ferries were filled in minutes, and they quickly sped towards the nearest district of Tokyo. Most of Odaiba's population was now on the water, looking back to their burning homes and the Digimon flying above it.

Unfortunately, several Digimon had not yet had the chance for their own fun. A number of Divermon, WaruSeadramon, and a single MarineDevimon had, up to this point, been confined to the waters surrounding Odaiba. Now that the ferries had been launched, however, they could satisfy their appetite for destruction. All of the Dark marine Digimon swarmed towards a single ferry, fully intent on tearing it to pieces.

There's a reason sailors used to fear sea monsters. When you're on the water, fear takes on a whole new dimension.

Like sharks, the marine Digimon circled the doomed ferry, as the helpless humans and Digimon on board screamed even louder. Their throats were growing hoarse, but they couldn't stop themselves. Being trapped on the water, surrounded by the monsters, was proving to be too much. They couldn't swim, they couldn't fight, and the Digimon would not allow them to reach the other side of the river.

MarineDevimon struck first. The Dark Digimon lifted one of the massive, white arms sprouting from his back and smashed it into the ferry, splintering wood and slamming people through the deck. The humans and Digimon who fell overboard quickly fell prey to the other Dark Digimon in the water. MarineDevimon struck again, but this time he was accompanied by WaruSeadramon's Dark Ice Blast attack. The combined attacks blasted through the ferry's hull, and the vessel quickly came apart and began to sink. The beings on deck were violently thrown overboard by the force of the attacks; few of those in the water survived. The smell of panic and terror was so strong it sent the aquatic Digimon into fits of madness, and they thrashed about wildly in the sea. The people on the remaining ferries watched in despair as the monstrous Digimon sent massive waves of salty water into the smoky air. Some of the passengers broke down into hysterics, screaming and sobbing helplessly.

In the end, only a third of Odaiba's populace made it across the bay or the Rainbow Bridge to the relative safety of the neighboring districts of Tokyo. These survivors looked across the Tokyo Bay to their burning and abandoned homes, and wailed in fear and despair.

The evil Digimon had been given orders to clear Odaiba of all the humans there; one way or another.

The Daemon Corps had fulfilled these orders easily, with ruthlessness and a horrifyingly casual disregard for life.

As the victorious Digimon raised their fists (or whatever passed for them) in the air and crowed their victory, their eyes turned back to the burning buildings. At Highton View Terrace, the center of the inferno that was now consuming the island, a tremendous battle was being fought.

The outcome of this battle would change the world forever; one way or another.

XxXxX

/Highton View Terrace, Odaiba. 7:56 p.m./

The fires of Highton View Terrace had long died, having burned all the available fuel around them, leaving the area black and sooty, as well as strewn with rubble and debris of the crumbling apartments and roads. Now, devoid of most of the fires, Highton View Terrace was serving as a battlefield. And it was hosting the fight of a lifetime.

Lillymon and MegaKabuterimon slammed into the broken remains of a road with cries of pain. Mimi Tachikawa and Izzy Izumi rushed towards their partners fearfully. The two Ultimate-level Digimon struggled amongst the rubble for several moments before de-Digivolving all the way back to their In-Training forms, Tanemon and Motimon.

"Tanemon!" Mimi yelled as she scooped up her defeated partners in her arms.

She cried silently as her partner replied weakly, "Sorry, Mimi…but I need…a little…rest."

Tanemon closed her eyes as she fell into unconsciousness. Mimi, tears in her eyes, held her weak partner to her chest.

"Motimon! Are you all right?" Izzy asked his partner as Mimi knelt on the broken ground nearby.

Motimon, struggling to stand, replied, "I wouldn't call it 'all right'…" before collapsing on a slab of asphalt. Izzy ran to his partner and picked up the small In-Training gently.

The red-haired computer whiz examined the small Digimon and found burns of varying degrees all over Motimon's soft body. Motimon, breathing labouredly, said, "I'll be fine…just keep that bug-swatter away from me."

Izzy nodded, and looked up into the air. With Lillymon and MegaKabuterimon down, that left…

Garudamon flew in the air, her massive wings spread out as she powered up her Wing Blade attack. Izzy nodded again, and shifted his eyes across the sky. There was Silphymon, struggling to stay aloft next to WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon, who were both recovering from the last attack. And last, but certainly not least, Imperialdramon Fighter Mode, charging up the laser cannon on his right arm for another volley of Positron Laser attacks. But where was…?

Izzy then realized who was missing. As he looked back down, he saw Joe Kido dashing towards his In-Training partner Bukamon, who had just de-Digivolved from Zudomon. Izzy's eyes widened. That meant that Shakkoumon, Lillymon, MegaKabuterimon, and Zudomon had all been soundly defeated. Five Digimon (seeing as Shakkoumon was a DNA-Digivolved Digimon) defeated out of twelve, the total number of Digimon who were partnered with the Digi-Destined. That was not good.

_'This is bad. It's still five against one, but even nine against one hardly did anything except trash Highton View Terrace!' _Izzy frowned as he thought rapidly. _'Even if we somehow won this fight, then we'd still have to deal with the rest of the Daemon Corps. That means…let's see, add the four, carry the seven, multiply by three…that gives us a rough estimate of at _least_ three hundred and twenty Digimon throughout Odaiba! The only way we could possibly win this now is if we had Omnimon or Imperialdramon Paladin Mode, but so far, WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon have only been able to DNA-Digivolve to Omnimon inside the Internet, and it looks like Paladin Mode needs Omnimon to be created…that may even have been a one-time deal…'_

_'…we're screwed.'_

This idea was reinforced as Izzy stared skywards. Their opponent, a demon draped in red robes, was laughing mockingly as he broke through Garudamon's Wing Blade attack with his bare hands.

"_Ha ha ha!_ Is this the best you children can do? I'm hardly trying!"

Daemon, one of the Seven Great Demon Lords, floated above the ruins of Highton View Terrace. His red robes flapped as hovered there, casually brushing aside Silphymon's newest assault.

"Surely you can do better?" With that, the Demon Digimon reached out and grabbed Silphymon around his left leg, and threw him to the ground with enough force to crush a tank. A cloud of dust and rocks flew into the air, hiding the DNA Digimon from sight as he was forced to de-Digivolve to Salamon and Poromon.

Davis Motomiya, the new leader of Odaiba's Digi-Destined, threw himself to the ground to avoid being hit in the head by a flying rock the size of a soccer ball. _'Whew. This fight's getting way too hazardous for comfort. That thing would've taken my head off!'_

Daemon laughed again, his tall, purple wings barely flapping to maintain his height above the ground. His cold, blue eyes washed over the weakened Digimon lying on the ground, and the Digi-Destined kneeling next to them. _'Pathetic.'_ He thought to himself.

"Terra Force!"

"Metal Wolf Claw!"

WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon's attacks were fired at the same time, and they rushed towards the Demon rapidly. WarGreymon's giant orb of yellowish energy and MetalGarurumon's stream of ice hit Daemon head on…but when the smoke cleared, the Demon Lord continued to hover casually; his robes were little more than singed.

"Hmm. Not bad. I'll have to give you bonus points for effort. But I'm afraid it's still not enough to do more than tickle me…"

"Then start laughing like you mean it! POSITRON LASER!"

Imperialdramon's laser blast hurtled from his arm-mounted cannon like a bullet. Daemon turned his head to Imperialdramon just as the blast hit him in the chest.

"Aaaggh…"

Daemon scowled beneath his hood as he brushed at the front of his robes. "You know, that almost hurt." The Demon Lord flexed his wings as he continued, "…but…"

Daemon moved with unbelievable speed. Imperialdramon had no more than blinked before the Dark Digimon was right in his face. "…it didn't hurt enough."

The Demon brought his clawed hands up, facing the palms right into Imperialdramon's face. "EVIL INFERNO!"

Massive streams of fire poured from the evil Digimon's hands, less than a foot away from the Dragon Digimon's face. With no time for Imperialdramon to react, the fire hit dead-on, scorching the Mega's head and face as he fell back, crying out in agony. The massive Digimon fell to the ground below, his great, red wings frayed and his armor smoking.

"Imperialdramon!" This cry came from both Davis and Ken Ichijouji. The two made to dash towards their temporarily-shared partner, but Tai Kamiya and Matt Ishida held them back.

"Let us go!" Davis yelled as he struggled against Tai's strong grip. Ken stopped pulling away from Matt a moment later, his face grim.

"Forget it, Davis! You won't do anything but get in the way out there! Once you run out there, you become a target just like our Digimon!" Tai shouted in Davis' ear as the younger boy continued to struggle. Beside them, Matt had let Ken go, who now stood with a calmer (yet still worried) face.

"He's right, Davis. Relax." Ken said, but his eyes seemed to still agree with Davis.

"Relax? Are you nuts, Ken? That guy's trashing our friends up there! We have to help them!" Davis shouted angrily, his face set with determination.

"How are we supposed to do that?" Matt asked in frustration. "We're not Digimon. We can't fight. All we can do is stay and support our friends from here."

Davis scowled. "Where it's safe? Where we can sit back and watch our friends get toasted?" Behind him, Daemon punched Garudamon in the head, sending the massive Digimon flying backwards in the air.

"What other choice do we have, Davis? What else can we possibly do?" T.K. Takaishi asked Davis as he walked up, holding a weak Tokomon in his arms. His mouth was set in a thin line, and his cheeks burned with anger. Tokomon turned towards Davis, his dull eyes watching the conversation as he breathed shallowly.

Tai finally let go of Davis, and the younger Digi-Destined swiped a hand through his spiky, brown hair in frustration. "I…don't know." Davis' shoulders sagged as he let out a sigh. He really didn't know what to do, and that was driving him mad. It felt like he was letting everyone down.

Kari Kamiya, Tai's younger sister, Cody Hida, and Yolei Inoue neared the group, holding their beaten Digimon in their arms like T.K. Following close behind were Izzy, Mimi, Joe, with their partners, and Sora Takenouchi. Above them, Garudamon, WarGreymon, and MetalGarurumon were still going at it, albeit in a tired manner. Imperialdramon continued to lie on the ground, trying to recover some energy.

"Hope you have a plan, Davis. Because we're running out of time here." Yolei said as she stopped next to Ken. The two exchanged a glance before looking to Davis.

Davis, on his end, was starting to feel nervous. It was a feeling he didn't like much. The entire Digi-Destined group was looking at him, waiting for a brilliant plan of action, or some fantastic revelation that would save all their skins.

"Whatever we do, we'll be fine as long as we work together and believe. We've proven that before, haven't we?" Cody asked as he held Upamon.

"Yeah. We've always come through before." Upamon added, wincing as several deep scratches burned while he spoke.

"No matter what happens, Davis, we're behind you all the way." This from Sora, who glanced up at Garudamon in the sky. The massive bird-man had been given a slight breather as Daemon turned to the other two Megas, who were showering the Demon with attacks.

Davis hung his head. Their faith and support meant a lot to him, but…this time, it felt like something had gone too wrong to fix. Like their streak of good luck had finally run out. For good.

"I'm sorry, guys…I'm out of ideas…"

"Well, you had better think of something fast, because your little friends are getting tired!"

The Digi-Destined looked up, and spied Daemon laughing as he blocked a very slow punch from Garudamon. Nearby, WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon floated shakily, both breathing hard.

Tai slammed a fist into his palm. "Grrr…that jerk. How can we beat him now? It's like he's still fresh…"

Joe said morosely, "I don't know if we _can_ beat him. He was much stronger than us almost six months ago, around Christmas, and it looks like he's only gotten stronger. Maybe from being stuck in the Dark Ocean for so long. It _is_ a realm of darkness, after all. It could only have made him more powerful. The more darkness, the stronger it becomes. And I doubt there was any light there to bother him."

"We can't just give up. What'll happen to the rest of the world, and the Digital World, if we fail?" Kari asked sadly. She looked around at the destruction. Nearly all the buildings in the area, most of which were apartments, had been leveled. And the fires still burned elsewhere in Odaiba. The sun had set a little while ago, but the fires lit up the night with an orange and dark gray haze. The smoke was still rising in the night sky, and would probably continue to rise for days, even after the fires burned out. Not a single star could be seen though the hazardous light of the flames and the blanket of smoke. The air was becoming tasteless and thin, too. Stale, with so little oxygen…and the smell of death on the ashy breeze.

The darkness was an even thicker blanket than the smoke. Kari, the Child of Light, could feel it closing in around them. She had her friends to back her up, but the presence of the darkness was strong enough to make her wince as the shadows danced in the light of the Digimon's attacks.

And all of the darkness was coming from the demon above them. Him and his army of evil Digimon. Who, she knew, had spread all over Odaiba. How many people had died because the Digi-Destined had been unable to help? Daemon had appeared suddenly, and had immediately arrested the Digi-Destined and their Digimon in battle while the Daemon Corps invaded the city like a plague. They had had no chance to protect the people…and now they were all paying for it.

"This is becoming quite boring. It's like playing with children intent on bloodying my nose when they can't even reach it…" Daemon looked down at the Digi-Destined and their Digimon standing together. "You mean I haven't destroyed any of you yet? Well, I must fix that…" Beneath his hood, Daemon grinned maliciously. He pointed his palms at the group below. "Evil Infer-"

"NO! BRAVE TORNADO!" WarGreymon put his hands, both covered with clawed gauntlets, together, and began to spin rapidly. As Daemon looked over his shoulder distractedly, WarGreymon barreled into the Demon Lord with all his strength. Daemon yelled in pain as the tip of the tornado attack tore through the back of his robes. Snarling viciously, Daemon reached behind and seized WarGreymon in mid-turn. The tornado ground to a halt as the Demon turned and held WarGreymon away from him.

WarGreymon, seeing his problem, twisted in air and kicked Daemon in the chest. Daemon's grip loosened just enough for him to break free. Placing his feet on the Demon's chest, WarGreymon kicked off into the air, yelling as he went, "Now, attack him!"

MetalGarurumon flew in front of the red-robed demon and shouted, "Ice Wolf Bite!"

Panels all over the Wolf Digimon's armored body opened, revealing missile launchers and laser guns. With a howl, MetalGarurumon launched his full arsenal of ice missiles and fired his blue lasers. The missiles left streaks of blue exhaust in the air as they raced towards their target, and the blue lasers burned through the night sky.

Daemon reacted on instinct. He brought his purple wings in front of him as a shield, and braced himself against the barrage. The missiles hit with resounding explosions, and they left large patches of ice all over the leathery wings. The laser blasts burned into the wings, as well, searing his flesh.

With a cry of rage, Daemon flexed his wings outward as far as they could go, shattering the sheet of ice coating them as his frosty eyes followed the retreating Wolf Digimon.

Garudamon took her chance next.

"Wing Blade!" Garudamon's wings burned with fire, and then flapped upwards, sending the flames into the sky. The flames came together in the shape of a phoenix, and the bird of fire slammed into Daemon's front with as much force as Garudamon could muster. The strain of the attack proved to be too much, and the massive bird-man glowed yellow. The Digimon then shrank into a much smaller form; Yokomon, Biyomon's In-Training form. The small Digimon fell from the sky, and landed neatly in Sora's outstretched arms.

Daemon, his eyes burning with rage, turned again to the group of Digi-Destined. "You'll pay for that…" He again raised his hands, and fire burned brightly next to his skin, coating his hands like gloves.

"TERRA FORCE!" WarGreymon summoned a massive ball of yellow energy, even larger than normal, and threw it at the Demon Lord with all his remaining strength. The attack hit Daemon in the back, and the Demon howled as his robes burned and the skin on his wings was seared. The explosion that followed threw the Digi-Destined and their partners to the ground. Dark smoke boiled across the sky.

WarGreymon, his strength spent, floated weakly next to MetalGarurumon. The two shared a nod, and turned to watch for the Demon Lord, should he rise again.

Davis was the first to raise his head. "Did we get him…?"

"I don't know. I hope so." Mimi replied as she looked up at the cloud of smoke.

Silence reigned as the smoke continued to flow across the sky, slowly dissipating. Then, from the depths of the darkness, came a chuckle. It was then followed by another.

"…most impressive. It appears I underestimated you…again."

The Digi-Destined gasped in fear as the smoke blew away. Daemon floated above them, his red robes ragged and singed, and his wings looked little better. But beneath the hood, Daemon seemed to be smiling. His icy eyes glittered with cold amusement, and he laughed aloud, drowning out the sounds of the fires nearby.

"But it seems that I still hold the upper hand. I could go on like this for quite a while, but it appears your friends are at the end of their rope…" Daemon smirked beneath his hood. "Perhaps I did not need the Dark Spore to boost my power after all…I seem to be on the edge of victory without it."

Ken, at the mention of the Dark Spore, lifted his hand to the back of his neck with a grimace. Daemon, seeing this, laughed again. "Oh, yes. You still remember it, then. However, I suppose the Spore is nearly useless now. It has stored much darkness from inside you in the past, young Ken, but it has been tainted by the light. The light of your…friends…" Daemon snorted dismissively. "But as I said, I don't believe I need it now. My power grows as I conquer more territory and defeat more of my opponents, so…" Daemon smiled widely. "…your destruction, and the destruction of your homes, will make me even stronger. And, perhaps, gaining power by such means has little value to it. True power must mature in pain and death…the Spore would have been too easy."

T.K., enraged by Daemon's words, shouted, "You freak! Why should we suffer just so you can become more powerful? It's beasts like you who make our lives difficult! Look around! You've already destroyed our homes, killed people we've called our friends, and you might have killed our families, too!" The rest of the Digi-Destined's eyes watered. Where were their families? Were they safe, somewhere else? Or had Daemon's army killed them too, just like so many other people who must have died by now..?

"Oh, you've hurt my feelings." Daemon laughed darkly. "That's just too bad. It's the way of the universe, and you had best get used to it. On the other hand, I don't think I'll give you the chance!"

Daemon hurtled towards the Digi-Destined and their weakened partners with cold fire in his eyes. He reached back a hand filled with fire and threw it in a blaze of orange light.

MetalGarurumon, using all his speed, threw himself in front of the flames. He yelled in agony as the Demon's flames washed over his armored body. When the attack ceased, the Mega de-Digivolved back to Tsunomon. The In-Training fell into Matt's arms as the evil Digimon above them laughed uproariously.

"Always protecting the others, even at one's own risk. What a foolish philosophy. I suppose I had best save you the trouble of making the same choice…" With that, Daemon turned around and flew towards WarGreymon, who hung limply in the air, helplessly awaiting the inevitable.

Rearing back his fist, Daemon slammed it into the Mega's head, sending the Digimon to the ground. On impact, WarGreymon de-Digivolved to Koromon, and bounced several times before laying still. Tai lunged forward and ran the short distance between them. Picking up his beaten partner, he turned and dashed back to the group as Daemon floated towards them, chuckling cruelly.

"Nice job, Tai, run right back to us, while we're all sitting ducks." Matt tried to speak harshly, but his voice was trembling too much for it to come out as a real reprimand.

"What else was I going to do? Run? I'm not leaving you guys here, no matter what." Tai answered sternly as he stood beside his friend.

"How noble. Always, the Digi-Destined place themselves in the line of fire to protect their friends or avoid abandoning them," Daemon said as he neared them. "Well, it puts you all together, so you go out with just one strong attack…" The Demon frowned underneath his hood before remembering. "Oh, of course. I knew I was forgetting something…"

Imperialdramon had finally regained his feet and was making his way towards his friends, the cannon on his arm glowing as he charged up a shot at Daemon's back. However, Daemon had other ideas.

The Demon Lord moved with the same uncanny speed he had shown earlier. Again, he was right in front of Imperialdramon's face, poised to attack.

"You really shouldn't attack people from behind. It's rude, you know."

Imperialdramon looked at Daemon and snorted defiantly, "And you take cheap shots."

Daemon smirked. "But I always win, don't I?" With that, he slammed his fist into Imperialdramon's face, sending the massive Mega back to the ground. Yet, he still didn't de-Digivolve.

Daemon raised his eyebrows. "My, but you are a stubborn one, aren't you?" He shifted his gaze back to the Digi-Destined and their Digimon partners, who were watching anxiously. With an evil smile, Daemon added, "Perhaps to reward your fortitude, I'll destroy your puny friends in front of you."

Imperialdramon breathed jaggedly as he tried to raise himself from the ground. "No…"

"Yes." And again he moved faster than the eye could track. Now he floated above the Digi-Destined…again.

The Demon Lord smiled. "I believe I'm going to enjoy this. EVIL FLAPPING!"

Arching his back, Daemon spread his wings out and brought them forward swiftly, sending a gale of dark wind over the Digi-Destined. The wind was so strong that it sent the humans and their Digimon flying backwards across the broken road.

"No…!" Imperialdramon shouted weakly before collapsing again. This time, his eyes closed as he slowly fell into unconsciousness.

The Digi-Destined cried out in pain as they hit the ground, tearing skin and slamming against upturned rocks. Their Digimon partners fared little better as they hit the ground.

Kari raised her head from the broken asphalt tentatively, and then recoiled as Daemon landed in front of her, his slightly tattered wings twitching. "I believe I'll kill you one at a time…that will make up for a new pair of robes."

"DON'T YOU TOUCH HER!" T.K. and Davis both screamed this at the same time, their minds and hearts lost to a burning rage; the kind that only comes when someone very special to you is threatened. Through sheer force of will, the two teens struggled to their feet and half-ran, half-staggered towards the pair. The rest of the Digi-Destined were slower to rise, but their fear urged them on.

Daemon shook his hooded head. "I don't think so." The Demon Lord raised a hand, palm up, to the sky. An instant later, a ring of fire erupted from the ground around both him and Kari, trapping everyone else outside the flames.

Kari's eyes widened in fear. She was alone now, and her friends couldn't help her. Salamon struggled to reach the flames, but she collapsed on top of a slab of asphalt. _'Kari…'_

Daemon laughed maliciously. "Don't worry, I'll make this as slow as possible…" He reached out both hands towards the Child of Light and took a step forward.

Everything grew blurry and dark. Somewhere deep in Kari's mind, her self-control snapped as emotions flooded her mind. Despair, terror, and pain wracked her body as she watched Daemon coming closer, closer…

She could vaguely hear the voices of her friends, all of them, but the roaring of the flames and the cries of her mind all but drowned them out. She was alone…they were defeated…and the darkness was swallowing her…

Something else snapped. Only this time, it wasn't inside her body or mind…it was…different. Something new. Something that wasn't meant to be broken. But, Kari realized, in some unconscious part of her mind, it was their only hope now.

Seizing the break (_what was broken…? She couldn't tell exactly…_) with her mind, Kari took a deep breath…

…and she screamed.

**_"SOMEBODY HELP US!"_**

The D-3 Digivice clipped to her belt exploded into furious pink light, and Daemon's hands flew up to shield his eyes against the harshest light he had ever seen.

"_WHAT IS THIS?" _He yelled against the rushing sound of the fearsome light…for the light _did_ have a sound. It was like a rushing river, or a waterfall pouring billions of gallons of water over the edge every second…and it burned like hellfire.

Daemon screamed in agony as the pink light flooded Odaiba. All across the city and into the bay, Dark Digimon wailed in anguish as their bodies were burned away, dissipating into data. Their eyes, blinded by the intensity of the light, blistered like their skin before they disappeared forever.

Across the bay, Tokyo's populace stared in amazement as Odaiba erupted into a pillar of pink light. With it came the scent of cherry blossoms, of life…

…and hope.

XxXxX

/The Digital World, Eastern Quadrant. 8:20 p.m./

Ryo Akiyama raised his head in confusion. There was a beeping sound coming from somewhere. Close by, Cyberdramon copied Ryo's gesture. The Dragon Digimon's lips were pulled back in half a snarl, but he remained silent.

After a moment, Ryo realized the sound was coming from his D-Arc, which was clipped to his belt. Unclipping it, the tall, brown-haired teen looked at his dark blue Digivice, puzzled.

The screen was flashing red, beeping incessantly. There was also a slight buzzing sound, but it seemed to be coming from around both Ryo and Cyberdramon instead of the D-Arc.

"What's going on with this?" Ryo asked Cyberdramon distractedly.

Cyberdramon shrugged, and said, in a gravelly, growl of a voice, "I don't know. But I feel something…strange."

Ryo turned to his partner. "Like what?"

Cyberdramon considered his question for a few moments before shrugging again.

Ryo raised an eyebrow. "Well, you're a big help." He turned back to his Digivice, considering it thoughtfully.

_'I wonder if it's broken. We've been through a lot together, after all…'_ Ryo frowned. _'No, that's not quite right. It's almost like it's…'_

"…calling for help."

Cyberdramon looked at his partner from behind his brown mask as the Tamer considered the words he had just spoken aloud. Ryo blinked. _'Where did that come from?'_

As if in response, the red light from his Digivice began to shine steadily, increasing in intensity. Ryo's frown deepened. Something was seriously wrong somewhere…

He looked up to his Ultimate partner. "How do you feel about helping someone out, Cyberdramon?"

Cyberdramon remained silent for a moment, before replying in a growl, "If there's something to fight."

Ryo half-smiled. "You never change."

In an instant, the red light changed to pure white, and it shone all around the pair, blanking out the digital landscape around them. A moment later, Ryo and Cyberdramon were tugged upward by an irresistible force. The ground beneath them disappeared, and they were enveloped in light.

XxXxX

/Henry Wong's Apartment, Shinjuku. 8:20 p.m./

Henry Wong blinked as his green-rimmed D-Arc began beeping loudly and flashing a bright red. Setting his book aside on the bed, the blue-haired teen reached over and shook Terriermon awake.

"…huh? Whassa matter, Henry…?" Terriermon asked groggily as he wiped his sleepy eyes.

"Trouble." Henry answered. He walked over to the desk and picked up his Digivice as Terriermon tumbled off the bed.

"Ouch…why don't we have carpet in here?"

Henry ignored his partner. He pressed a button on the D-Arc, but nothing happened. Turning it over, Henry inspected the casing. Terriermon, now on his feet, stood next to his Tamer, watching bemusedly while the teen tried to figure out what was wrong with the gadget.

Henry sighed. What was causing the Digivice to beep and flash, and how could he stop it?

_…help us…_

_'Wait a second. Am I hearing things?'_ The Tamer thought to himself.

"…help you? Who are you?" Henry asked aloud, staring into the red light, which was now shining steadily.

Terriermon tugged on the teen's pant leg. "Henry, are you talking to yourself? That's not the best habit to get into, you know. Just ask Takato."

Blinking, Henry turned to his small partner and asked, "Do you want to get into a load of trouble and bail some people out?"

Terriermon, confused but curious, replied, "Do I get to kick some booty?"

Henry slowly nodded. "A whole lot of it, if I'm right."

Terriermon grinned. "Count me in, then."

The crimson light changed to pure white, and it flooded Henry's bedroom. It blanked out the furniture, the walls, and the floor, until Henry and Terriermon were standing alone in pure light. Then, an incredible force lifted them from the ground, and took them for a ride through Infinity.

XxXxX

/Rika Nonaka's House, Shinjuku. 8:20 p.m./

Rika Nonaka looked into the flashing red light, then turned away from her blue-rimmed D-Arc, blinking her eyes furiously. The light was strong enough to blind…but it demanded her attention, driving its presence into her mind. Beside her, Renamon stood silently, observing the flashing device with the slightest sense of caution.

"What's wrong with this thing?" The red-haired teen asked her partner.

Renamon shook her head. "I don't have a clue, Rika."

Rika continued to gaze at her D-Arc. Man, it was tough to look away. "Then how am I supposed to fix it if I don't know what's wrong with it?" She asked grumpily.

Renamon answered tonelessly, "Again, I don't know, Rika."

"Hmph." The teenaged girl considered knocking it against something, but then figured that was something Kazu or Kenta might do. So, she chose not to do it.

"Well, how the heck am I supposed to shut this thing up?"

The red light shone steadily now, and a voice seemed to reach out from it, speaking directly into Rika's mind.

_…please…help us…_

Rika started. She turned to her vixen partner, and asked, "Did you hear that?"

"…barely. Like a whisper. What did it say?"

Rika turned back to her D-Arc. Its beeping was getting louder. "It wants us to help them. Whoever's sending this message, I mean."

Renamon considered this. "Are we going to?"

The beeping was getting much worse, and the red light much brighter; it seemed to deepen to a bloody crimson. "…why not?" Rika asked as she shrugged. "…things have been boring around here lately, anyway. Plus…I guess it's the right thing to do."

"Very well, then. We'll go together."

The crimson color turned white, and the beeping ceased entirely, replaced by a rushing noise, like a roaring river. The white light burned brighter, enveloping the room until it resembled nothing more than a patch of impenetrable fog…fog that glowed as white as snow in the blinding sun. Then, Rika and Renamon's feet were lifted from the ground, and they sped through a corridor of light, suspended over the Abyss.

XxXxX

/Kazu Shioda's House, Shinjuku. 8:20 p.m./

"What's wrong with this stupid thing?" Kazu asked loudly as he banged his Digivice against the floor. The D-Arc continued to beep and flash, apparently oblivious to its mistreatment.

Guardromon asked in a curious tone, "Might you have broken it? T'would be easy, after smashing it against the floor like that."

Kazu sweatdropped. "I guess that isn't helping much, is it?" Sitting back on the carpet, Kazu examined the device carefully. "I suppose it doesn't come with a warranty, does it?" He asked his armored partner.

Guardromon raised his metallic arms in a shrug. Kazu sighed in response.

"Maybe I oughta call Henry. His dad might know how to fix it…uh oh."

The red light was shining steadily now. For a moment, Kazu thought he saw a streak of pink in the depths of the burning light before it disappeared, leaving a solid red screen.

Kazu growled. "Whatever I have to do to stop this thing, I'll do it! Just turn it off!" He yelled, more in frustration than in hope that someone would hear him.

An answer came a split second later. The rusty iron-rimmed Digivice began to glow pure white, blinding Kazu and Guardromon's eyes as they disappeared into a cloud of light.

XxXxX

/Kenta Kitagawa's House, Shinjuku. 8:20 p.m./

"Bad, bad, bad, bad, _bad!_" MarineAngemon chirruped in a distressed tone as Kenta Kitagawa pressed the buttons on his gray-ringed D-Arc repeatedly.

"I know, I know! But I don't know what's going on, so give me a little peace and quiet to figure it out!"

MarineAngemon quieted almost immediately, but the Digivice continued to beep its incredibly repetitive and annoying alarm-clock buzz. The solid red screen concerned Kenta more than the beeping, but no matter how many times he pressed the two buttons on the face of the D-Arc, it only seemed to get worse.

"Aaaggh…why won't it stop? There's only two buttons, one of them must have worked by now!"

"Bad!"

"Yeah, I know. Why don't these things come with an instruction manual? There must be something I can do…"

The screen exploded with white light, drowning the pair in its brilliance as Kenta's room disappeared. Kenta's glasses almost floated away into the air before Kenta grabbed at them reflexively. His eyes wide in alarm, he and his diminutive partner were sucked into a vortex of light, flying through the barriers of space and time in the blink of an eye.

Kenta screamed all the way.

XxXxX

/Jeri Katou's House, Shinjuku. 8:20 p.m./

"…I'd like to help you, but I don't know how I can…" Jeri said to her orange-rimmed D-Arc sadly. The red screen of her Digivice seemed to stare up at her, awaiting her explanation. Or maybe it was just Jeri…

"…I mean, my partner…died…" Jeri continued, blinking to hold back the tears that threatened to fall. "…so, what could I possibly do to help? I'm not strong, and I can't fight."

…_please help…we need you…_

Jeri swallowed, then nodded her head slowly as a determined look replaced the hesitation and sadness from before. Holding her Digivice with both hands, she said, "I'll help however I can. Just show me how."

Red erupted into pure white, as her D-Arc shone like a miniature sun. Jeri closed her eyes as the light washed over her, carrying her over the waves of Infinity and above the Abyss.

XxXxX

/Playground, Shinjuku Central Park, Shinjuku. 8:20 p.m./

Impmon stood next to his young Tamers, Ai and Mako, as they and Suzie Wong looked at their flashing Digivices. The three young Tamers had been playing together in the park, accompanied by their partners, when their D-Arcs had started flashing red and beeping. The young Tamers weren't particularly electronically minded or as involved with Digital matters as the teenaged Tamers, but it was obvious enough that something wasn't right.

Mako asked his sister, "Why's it beeping, Ai?"

Ai answered uneasily, "I don't know. I think something's wrong." The single purple-ringed D-Arc that served both of the siblings was hung around Ai's neck by a thick string, but at the moment, Ai held it in front of her. The Digivice just fit in both of her small hands.

Next to them, Suzie, who was now nearly a head and a half taller than both of her friends, held her own pink-rimmed Digivice up as Lopmon stood beside her. Suzie stared at the flashing screen resolutely, as though she could force it to tell her why it was acting so much like the alarm clock in her bedroom.

Lopmon tugged on Suzie's left pant leg as she asked, "What's wrong, Suzie?"

Impmon answered, in his distinctive accent, "Somethin's up. And whatever it is, it's causin' da Digivice things to go haywire."

Suzie nodded. That sounded like something Henry might say--aside from the accent, anyway.

Ai asked aloud, "What are we supposed to do?" Mako nodded his head, voicing his agreement.

Suzie looked up from the red light emanating from her D-Arc (it was kind of pretty, in a scary, strange sort of way), and saw that the two younger Tamers and the two Digimon were watching her, waiting for an answer. Surprised by the attention, Suzie thought hard. It felt like she was being set up as the leader…

…and she kind of liked it.

Puffing up her chest importantly, Suzie replied, in a knowledgeable tone of voice, "We stop whatever's making the Digivices flash!"

Impmon and Lopmon sweatdropped. Not exactly an inspiring, bold plan of action…or very precise …

Ai and Mako didn't seem to think so, either. "How do we do that? And how do we figure out what's causing them to do this?" Ai asked after a moment of awkward silence. Mako nodded again as he frowned in thought.

Suzie opened her mouth and raised a finger as she prepared to explain…but found, to her disappointment, that she didn't know either. The young girl sighed dejectedly, and blew a strand of hair away from her eyes with the corner of her mouth.

Impmon clasped his hands behind his head. "Maybe we oughta call somebody else and find out what's goin' on." Normally, Impmon wouldn't be the one to suggest calling for help, but the beeping was starting to grate on his nerves. It had to be even worse for Lopmon, with those big, long ears.

Suzie perked up. "I've got it!" The young Tamer beamed proudly as she realized what they needed to do.

"What? What?" Mako asked excitedly; things were becoming really interesting. Maybe they'd get to go on an adventure like the older kids had years ago…

Suzie grinned as she held her D-Arc up for the others to see clearly. The screen was now shining a steady red, like a traffic light. "We ask the Digivices!"

Impmon and Lopmon almost facefaulted. Asking questions might be one of the best ways to find things out, but asking an inanimate electronic device why it was beeping and flashing bright red lights was a little over the top. Both of the Rookie-level Digimon simultaneously thought of asking a little, round bomb what the timer meant as it counted down from ten to zero…

Ai and Mako were almost as skeptical. But, as they looked at their older friend's face, they both sighed. Who could ever say differently when Suzie was so pleased with herself for thinking of such a clever idea? And besides, it wasn't _that_ farfetched…

…after all, most people had trouble imagining an entire dimension and creatures made of data, so…

"…okay…why don't you ask them, Suzie?" Ai said tentatively as she looked at the bright red screen on Suzie's pink-rimmed Digivice. One might _almost_ think the device was listening…

"Okay!" Suzie replied enthusiastically. Bringing her D-Arc close to her mouth, Suzie spoke to it slowly, clearly enunciating every word. "What…is…wrong…with…you?"

Usually, that question sounds rather rude. Suzie's four friends were given a mere moment to reflect on this when a small, soundless voice answered in their minds…

_…help us…please, help…_

Impmon's eyes bugged out comically. "You mean dat actually _woiked_?"

Lopmon smiled sheepishly. "That's my Suzie."

And Suzie, now even more confident, asked in an authoritative tone, "Who wants to help out?"

Ai and Mako raised their small hands after a moment of thought. Lopmon raised an ear afterwards. Impmon appeared to think it over, and then shrugged. "Eh, why not? I got a feelin' dis is gonna be weird, but lez do it! I've been itching for some action!" A second later, the crimson light from the young Tamers' Digivices turned to purest white and blinded them as the light drowned out the playground equipment and the trees around them. Then, they were gone, leaving behind an empty playground.

XxXxX

/Takato Matsuki's House, Shinjuku. 8:20 p.m./

Guilmon's ears perked up as Takato's Digivice beeped incessantly. The D-Arc, Takato's second, had a gold rim around the screen (which was now shining bright red, just like the other Digivices) with Digi-Code etched into it. With a red strap on the top, Takato's was probably the Tamers' most recognizable D-Arc. Regardless of appearance, it was now behaving the same as the other Digivices.

Takato held the Digivice in his hand as Guilmon stood up from his resting spot on the floor and walked next to his Tamer. The brown-haired teen was examining the device with a bemused expression.

_''Be careful what you wish for. You just might get it.' Me and my big mental mouth…'_ Takato sighed. _'Well, what's the worst that can happen? No, no, wait; scratch that…'_

Guilmon cocked his head to the side as he watched Takato's face scrunch up. Sometimes the raptor-like Digimon wondered who Takato talked to when he was completely silent. _'Maybe he has a friend who lives inside his head?'_

…well, that's Guilmon for you. Both he and Takato have overactive imaginations.

Then, the Digimon's ears twitched as he heard a quiet voice…yet, the twitch was only reflexive; the voice was inside his mind.

_…please, help us…we need your help…please…please…_

"Takato? Is someone in trouble?" The red Digimon asked inquisitively. The voice was nice, if worried. It had a soft, melodious sound to it, and Guilmon knew immediately that he would like the person the voice belonged to, if they met.

Takato turned to his partner. "I think so, boy." The teen turned to look out the window of his bedroom. "…I think we're going to have to leave if we're going to help."

Guilmon blinked, and replied, "Where are we going?"

Takato shook his head. "I don't know. Just that it's somewhere far away. And it's going to be…different, somehow."

"How do you know that?" Guilmon asked after a moment.

"I'm not sure. I just know, I guess." Takato turned to his partner. "Are you ready for an adventure, Guilmon?"

Guilmon nodded happily. Adventures were always fun. And it had been so long since they'd had one, too. The Dinosaur Digimon was looking forward to this.

Takato's golden D-Arc burst into blinding, white illumination. The bedroom disappeared as roaring light replaced it. Their feet left the ground as they were pulled upwards, leaving their world behind.

"Takato?"

"Yeah, boy?"

"…do you think they'll have bread where we're going?"

"Guilmon, I swear…"

XxXxX

/Hypnos Control Room, Tokyo Metropolitan Building, Shinjuku. 8:20 p.m./

"Yamaki! Yamaki!" Tally Onodera yelled out as she tried furiously to pinpoint the locations of the spatial disturbances. It was so difficult to catch the readings; then again, these were disturbances that they had never seen before, so it could probably be expected…but it wasn't appreciated by Hypnos' staff. Not at all.

Mitsuo Yamaki rushed into Hypnos' control room, clutching his silver Zippo lighter tightly as he ran.

"What's going on?" He asked over the sound of the computers noisily processing data.

Riley Ootori answered, in a frustrated tone, as she tapped rapidly across her console, "We're getting some insane signals from the sensory equipment. It looks like something's ripping open several holes in space, but we can't get a proper reading on it. There's just too much data flooding the system. And the real problem is, it's not a gateway between the Real World and the Digital World."

Yamaki stared up at Riley and Tally in confusion. The two women were seated in their usual positions, on two large, metal chairs suspended about twenty feet in the air by large, mechanical arms attached to the floor. The walls of the room currently displayed a blue grid, a graphic representation of the Real World's boundaries between them and the Digital World. At the moment, eight large, red circles were rotating in different positions on the grid. One was a little larger than the others, and another kept jumping erratically from place to place on the wall, but beyond that, there seemed to be no difference between the symbols. Next to the red circles projected on the wall were long streams of coded data. The data rolled by too rapidly for Yamaki to get more than a rough idea of what was happening.

_'…it almost looks like…'_

Riley voiced his thoughts aloud. "The data suggests that the tears in space resemble both the effects of the Juggernaut Program and the Digital Zone that was created a little more than two and a half years ago when the Parasimon entered the Real World by using Locomon to create the zone."

Yamaki grimaced. Juggernaut and the Locomon Incident. Both very bad situations, with serious repercussions. How bad would this one be…?

Looking directly at Riley through his dark sunglasses, Yamaki asked tersely, "How are they alike?"

"All three of these phenomena have one thing in common; they appear to tear apart the barriers between worlds. The only important difference that we've been able to find up to this point is that the first two scenarios, the activation of Juggernaut and the Digital Zone created by Locomon, created breaches between the Real World and the Digital World. This one…"

"Well?" Yamaki asked impatiently.

Tally finished, "These rips in space appear to be bypassing the Digital World entirely. Meaning, the gaps are opening between here and somewhere else."

Yamaki growled in frustration. "Where is 'somewhere else'?"

"We're not quite sure yet. We don't have enough data at the moment."

Snorting under his breath, Yamaki began flipping his lighter back and forth. The small _clicks_ of the lighter's lid echoed off the walls of the large room. Yamaki hadn't had a smoke in almost six months, but fidgeting with the lighter seemed to be an even more aggressive habit, somehow. It just wouldn't be broken without a fight.

"It all comes back to knowledge, doesn't it? We never know enough…"

"Sir! The tears are closing in on themselves! A complete seal of the Real World's barriers is expected in…ten seconds!"

Yamaki frowned as he looked at the projections on the wall. Sure enough, the red circles were quickly growing smaller, shrinking from the size of large basketballs to baseballs, and then almost disappearing entirely. A few moments later, the signals vanished completely, leaving only long streams of data scrolling across the projective walls.

Looking back up to Riley and Tally, Yamaki asked, over the babble of other technicians on his level, "Did the tears seal completely? Did anything come through?"

Riley glanced over the data summary displayed on the inside of the visor she wore, and replied a moment later, "Yes, sir. There's no evidence that the breaches ever occurred. And no, it doesn't appear that anything came through from the other side of the zones."

Yamaki took this in and nodded. Turning, he said over his shoulder, "Go over all the data we recorded that applies to this…incident, and figure out what just happened. Then bring me a summary. I want to know what's going on, and if this will happen again."

"Yes, sir." Riley and Tally answered. They then set to work, their fingers blurs over their consoles. The suspended chairs swiveled several times every few moments as the two women glanced at the displays on the walls. Yamaki couldn't see their eyes behind their visors, but he could tell that they were fully concentrated on their task.

Satisfied, for the moment, at least, Yamaki began to walk out of the room. Then, on impulse, he turned back. A thought had occurred to him. Looking back up at the women, he asked, with a frown, "Where are the Tamers?"

XxXxX

_"Something has happened, my old friend."_

_"…yes. The gates have been breached. They will be sealed again shortly, but they may not stay that way for long."_

_"Might our time finally be at hand?"_

_"I dearly hope so. Eternity is far too long a wait, and the Abyss is hardly the most scenic of resting places…"_

XxXxX

A/N: What a fun chapter. What did you think? Let me know in a review, and please remember to ask questions as well. It's as much for your benefit as mine.

Special thanks to 'plasmasphere', my Beta. He looks over all my stuff before I post it. I'm too liable to miss something and regret it later after I've posted it.


	3. Battle With A Demon

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon. If I did, I'd also own a lot of cool stuff like a brand new computer with a wide, flat-screen and the Playstation 3 when it comes out.

A/N: What a massive chapter. This just about doubles the fic's length right here. Well, I hope you like big battles…

**Chapter Three: Battle With A Demon**

XxXxX

Takato's ears were filled with a roaring noise, and his eyes were screwed up against an intense white light. His hair blew in an invisible wind, and his skin prickled with a pins-and-needles sensation.

Plus…he was falling. Very, very fast.

Blinded by the radiance, Takato barely managed to bite back a yell as his stomach clenched uncontrollably. It felt as though his intestines were doing loops, even as he fell like a brick. The wind continued to blow as Takato tried to shield his eyes from the harsh radiance with his hands, hoping he wouldn't hit ground in the near future. The most frustrating part was that he didn't know where he was falling; only that he was doing a very good imitation of a skydiver without a parachute. He couldn't see anything…

Then, the light suddenly dimmed, leaving Takato blinking as his eyes started to adjust to the relative darkness. As the light decreased, so did Takato's speed. At last, when Takato could see without being blinded by light, he slowed to a lazy downward float, sprawled on his stomach.

With his eyes finally adjusted to the comfortable lighting, Takato looked around, taking in his surroundings with a bewildered eye.

He was slowly falling down a tube of silvery mist. At least, that was what first came to mind. It almost looked like the inside of a hose, with the sides being made of fog instead of rubber. Above and below, the tunnel stretched onwards, out of sight. Looking up, Takato could see…something like a flashing globe; almost like a star in its brightness, but like a large ball in size.

_'I wonder what _that_ could be…'_

Moments after the thought passed through Takato's head, the bright sphere, which had been flashing at regular intervals, disappeared into the distance.

Bewildered, Takato shook his head and peered around him, observing the gaseous, silver walls surrounding him. As he slowly drifted downwards, it occurred to Takato that he had been pulled out of the Real World, somehow. Probably by his D-Arc and the blinding light that had shone from it. It seemed to be the only credible answer. You just didn't find stuff like this in the park, usually.

But now where was he going? It didn't seem like he was heading for the Digital World. This trip was nothing like the last time.

_'Okay. I'm floating down a great big hole in a bunch of fog. Just look at the sides! It's like a vortex, the way the fog is all drifting up past me, all swirls and spirals. Like it's a whirlpool, but it's going up and I'm going down, against the current. Weird.'_

The whole situation was definitely strange. Especially because it didn't feel like he was going to the Digital World; something about it just seemed too different.

_'If I'm not going there, then where _am_ I going?'_ Takato asked himself as he slowly floated down the tunnel of mist.

It almost felt like he was laying stomach-down on a feather bed as he fell; he could hardly feel the air pressing against him. Sort of like he was falling through space, with no gravity to speed his descent.

Takato continued to drift downwards, lying on his stomach, observing the curious ebbs and flows of the misty walls. Always, the silvery gas would stream past, back the way he had come. Maybe all the way back to Guilmon's hut in Shinjuku Park…

…wait a second.

"…where's Guilmon?" Takato asked aloud, his brows coming together in a slight frown.

"Ooh! Look at the pretty clouds, Takato!"

_'You know, it's nice to actually get an answer right away when I ask a question. It doesn't happen very often…'_

Takato looked over his shoulder, peering back up the vertical tube of mist.

Guilmon was a few feet behind him, twirling over and over in midair, gazing at the gaseous, silver walls with an enraptured expression. There was a great, silly grin on the Digimon's muzzle, complementing his look of childish delight.

Takato shook his head in bemusement. He wasn't quite sure how Guilmon had managed to appear behind him so suddenly, but he was comforted by his partner's presence. And his fascination with their surroundings.

_'It's funny. No matter what's happening, Guilmon can always appreciate the beauty around him. I suppose he's right, too. I mean, it _is_ kind of cool…even if I don't have a clue what it is…or even _where_ it is…'_

Turning his head back, Takato looked down the tunnel. He couldn't see the end, or anything close to them. Just the swirling sides of the tunnel, leading ever downwards. It might stretch on like this for miles…and both Takato and Guilmon were falling somewhat slowly, so there was no telling when they would reach the end.

Takato sighed and tried to relax. Nothing to do at the moment but wait, it seemed…

"Takato! Heads up!"

Takato twisted his head around so fast that the momentum pulled the rest of him with it, spinning his body face up, towards Guilmon and…

BAM!

Henry and Terriermon (who had yelled the warning), slammed into Takato, spinning the three of them end over end as they each groaned and tried to grab onto each other. Moments later, Rika and Renamon followed suit, eliciting pained grunts from Terriermon, who was now being squished between Takato and his Tamer.

"Ouch! Henry, you're squishing me!" Terriermon yelped as one of his long ears flapped outside the midair dog pile.

"Sorry, buddy," Henry replied as he pushed against Takato, trying to get Rika and Renamon off his back. "Ladies, do you think you might be able to get off of us?"

"No guarantees, Henry," Rika replied as she tried to shift her position from between Henry and her partner. Her head was spinning, and with no gravity, she was having a hard time focusing…and finding her balance.

Renamon, on her part, looked rather calm, even with ruffled yellow fur. Grasping Rika's shirt collar with one paw, the fox-like Digimon pushed lightly against Henry's back, sending the two ladies back a few feet. With the two off of his back, Henry spun to the side, freeing Terriermon from his tight confinement.

"Well, it's about time," the rabbit-dog said grumpily as he reached out and grabbed Henry's shoulder with a long ear.

"I don't know what you're complaining about," Takato replied as he rubbed a bump on his head. "You didn't get hit in the head."

"Sorry about that, Takato," Henry said as he gazed at the misty walls around them. "I guess we were coming down a little faster than you."

"Yeah, no kidding." Takato answered. "Wait a second…how'd you guys miss Guilmon?" Takato looked over Rika and Renamon's shoulders to see Guilmon, drifting happily behind them, oblivious to the new arrivals.

Takato's eye twitched as his head gave a slight throb.

"Just plain lucky, I guess," Henry replied dryly.

"…right." Shaking his head in bewilderment, Takato cried out, "Hey Guilmon! Come on up here with us!" After a pause, Takato added, "…or down. I mean, we _are_ falling, so I suppose he'd come 'down'…"

Terriermon shook his head. "Sometimes I worry about you, Takato."

"Coming!" Guilmon replied to his Tamer a moment later. Righting himself (he'd been spinning around slowly like a top), the Digimon reached forward with both arms and brought them back to his sides swiftly, whipping his tail in the air behind him. Effectively performing the breaststroke in midair and null gravity, the red Digimon slowly flew towards the group.

Or maybe he was swimming…it was hard to tell, really.

Henry watched this with a trace of confusion on his face. "That's weird," he began, putting a hand to his chin thoughtfully.

Rika interrupted, "Everything about this whole situation is weird, Henry. It doesn't take a Brainiac to figure that out."

Ignoring the female Tamer, Henry continued, "I don't think you can do that in normal space, where there's no gravity."

Takato blinked. "Do what?"

Henry gestured towards Guilmon as he came to a stop beside his partner. "Guilmon was swimming through air. Normally, that's strange enough, but it doesn't seem like there's any gravity here. We shouldn't be able to move around just by flexing our bodies as though we were underwater. It goes against the laws of physics."

"A lot of things in the Digital World don't follow the laws of physics either, Henry," Renamon replied as she crossed her arms. The Digimon floated next to her Tamer as they slowly continued to descend. "And there's no telling where we actually are."

"I know that, Renamon. I'm just making an observation." Henry answered. He then gestured towards the misty walls around them, and continued, "My point is, wherever we are, it looks like we're in a realm where not all the normal laws of nature apply."

"Typical," Rika said as she rolled her eyes.

Takato sighed in exasperation before saying, "How did we get here, anyway?"

Henry looked over to his friend. "Did your Digivice start beeping and flashing red?"

The others nodded.

After a pause, Henry added, "…did you hear a voice asking for help?"

Despite himself, Takato started. "Yeah. It was like a voice in my head…"

Rika snorted in a very un-ladylike fashion. "Takato, how could you possibly pick out a single voice out of all the ones that run around inside your head all the time?"

"Hey, I resent that!"

Rika rolled her eyes. At Henry's questioning look, she nodded in answer to his question, albeit with a touch of reluctance.

Guilmon, who had watched the exchange with a puzzled look, said, "I hear voices, too, Rika. They're always telling me to eat…in fact, they're talking to me right now."

Takato put a hand to his face; he was often very vexed by his partner's eating habits. "Guilmon, that's your imagination. And your appetite."

"Oh." Guilmon scratched his chin with a claw. "…then why did I tell myself to go eat at the school cafeteria a few weeks ago…?"

Takato groaned. "Guilmon, please don't remind me about that. I already realize the diet was a bad idea. I don't need that concept reinforced at the moment."

"Oh? He was on a diet? Well, that explains things," Renamon said dryly. "I assumed he was just hungry."

"Very witty, Renamon. Remind me to put you in touch with my comedian uncle…" Henry said as he shook his head. "Anyway, back on topic. We got a call for help through the Digivices, and then we get pulled into this…big tube of mist. Whatever it is."

Takato looked down, in the direction they were slowly falling. "You know, it makes me think of _Alice in Wonderland_. It's like the rabbit hole, I guess."

"And who knows where we're going?" Henry replied. After a moment of thoughtful silence, Henry said, "You know, I wonder if anyone else got that call for help…?"

Rika groaned loudly. "Henry, please tell me you didn't just say that out loud."

Henry blinked in bewilderment. "Why would it matter if I…?" Then, on an impulse, Henry looked up, back the way they had come.

"…I hate it when I'm right."

_BAM!_

Just like that, the group suddenly got a lot bigger.

What was, moments before, a loose formation of three humans and three Digimon was now a massive jumble of limbs twisting and spinning wildly in midair. Outraged protests echoed against the silvery walls of the misty tunnel as a grand total of ten Tamers and eight Digimon pushed and shoved against each other, trying to get a little breathing room. Kenta, who was in the middle of the floating heap, was still screaming his head off.

"Yow! Rika, get your elbow out of my face! And Kenta, stop squealing like a little girl! Guardromon, you're crushing me!" Kazu yelled loudly, drowning out the shouts of the others.

Kenta finally quieted as Rika replied angrily, "Well, next time, don't _land_ on my elbow! Ryo, get out of my face!"

"Sorry, Princess," Ryo replied with a grin as he struggled to free himself from between Guardromon and Terriermon, whose face was contorted in a pinched grimace; he had, yet again, wound up in the middle of a body sandwich.

After little success, Ryo said dryly, "Well, it's nice to have the whole group back together again."

_"OH, SHUT UP, RYO!"_ The majority of the older Tamers (and Terriermon) shouted back.

Impmon grimaced as he wriggled between Guilmon and Mako. "Youse needs to lose weight, Pineapple Head!" He said to Guilmon as he pushed his gloved hands against the other Rookie's belly.

"I'm sorry, Impmon," Guilmon replied, momentarily pinned against Cyberdramon's back by Impmon's pushing. "Takato tried to put me on a diet, but it didn't work so well."

"Please, Guilmon, no more reminders!" Takato yelled as he finally managed to free himself from the mess. His momentum carried him a little closer to the misty walls before he grabbed onto his partner's thick tail.

"…has it been like this the whole time you guys have been together?" Jeri asked Henry as he helped pull her out from underneath Kazu.

"Yeah, pretty much. Same as normal, I guess." Henry replied dryly.

Kazu, in the meantime, was holding onto Guardromon's head as he complained loudly.

"…whose bright idea was this, anyway? If we needed to go somewhere, why couldn't we just take a cab?" The brown-haired teen asked in annoyance. "Stupid Digivices…we're always getting pulled into something. It's like we're Digi-Destined or something. Drafted into service, dragged off into other worlds…"

"Look on the bright side, Kazu," Ryo said as he extracted himself from the remaining mess.

"Oh yeah? What's that?" Kazu replied, rather sullenly.

"The prospect of adventure, of course." Ryo grinned slyly. "Don't tell me you want to turn that down. The chance to have some real fun and be a hero…and to look cool while doing it, too."

Kazu raised an eyebrow in a very Rika-esque manner. "…well, I suppose…" He said slowly, turning the enticing idea around in his mind.

"That's the spirit."

"Don't encourage him, Ryo." Rika said. She didn't bother to look at the other Tamer as she spoke.

Ryo just grinned in response.

Jeri, in an attempt to bring some measure of seriousness back to the situation, said, "…um, does anyone know where we are? It's kind of cool, with all this mist, but I don't have a clue what all this is…"

"It looks like the slides in the McDonald's play area!" Suzie proclaimed animatedly from the other side of the group, next to Lopmon. "Except it's all bright and foggy instead of colored plastic!"

Takato's eye twitched again. It was a very appropriate analogy, but it _was_ sort of strange to think about.

"Well, if this is McDonalds, then where are the fries? Bring 'em on!" Terriermon said loudly. Henry promptly knocked his partner's head with his fist.

"Actually, that might explain why we all collided like we did," he said as Terriermon massaged his head grumpily. "The 'slides' we were all in merged into this one. So, we're all going in one direction now."

"That still doesn't tell us where this is or where we're going," Jeri replied as she floated next to Henry. All the while, the group continued to slowly fall down the 'slide' of mist.

Ryo shrugged. "I assume we're going wherever the distress call came from. You know, the one from the Digivices."

"Brilliant deduction, Einstein," Rika replied scathingly. "But in case you didn't notice, we still don't know _anything _about_ where_ that is."

Ryo put his hands behind his head lazily and twisted his body until he was facing back up the tunnel. To the rest of the group, it looked like he was lying down. "Does it matter at the moment?" He said, closing his eyes.

Rika sighed and shook her head. She never could win against Ryo. Maybe that was why it was so fun to poke at him. She had to get a rise out of him sometime…

"I guess I agree with Ryo," Kenta chimed in. "I mean, even if we knew where we were going, what would we do about it?"

Ryo nodded. "Exactly. Might as well kick back and enjoy the ride."

Takato sighed. _'Easy going Ryo. Oh, well. Why not?'_

Twisting his body, Takato lay forward on his stomach, enjoying the cushiony feeling he got from the lazy descent. They were still falling, but it felt like a slow pace. In the meantime, Takato closed his eyes as he put his head on his arms, as though he were lying face down in bed.

The group fell silent as each of them tried to relax. Some of them copied Takato and Ryo; either facing back up or down the tunnel. The rest merely gazed at the swirling walls quietly, waiting for whatever was to come.

A flash of bright light attracted Takato's attention, even through his closed eyelids. Opening his eyes and taking his arms from his face, Takato looked down the tunnel. Several moments later, another flash followed, making Takato flinch as the light blinded him.

"What's that?" He asked aloud. The rest of the group, their attention caught by the flashing light down the tunnel, turned to face the same way, their faces puzzled as they squinted.

Another flash. This one seemed a slight bit faster than the previous ones. As Takato thought this, he realized that the air around him was starting to move past him faster. As his eyes widened in dawning realization, he felt his stomach clench as his body began to react to the change around him.

_'Oh, great. We're speeding up. And we're still going straight down, towards that light…'_

"Uh, guys? Don't panic, but I think we're falling a little faster now." Takato said as he looked around. The rest of the Tamers and most of the Digimon had worried expressions on their faces.

Another flash. This one brighter. And the air was starting to stream past Takato as a breeze; he could feel his hair blowing slightly as their speed increased even further.

_'Oh, boy.'_

"Anybody got a parachute on hand?"

"Terriermon, that's not helping!" Henry shouted back, his eyes wide with alarm.

Kenta apparently didn't think so either.

"AAAHHH! WE'RE GOING TO DIE, WE'RE GOING TO DIE, WE'RE GOING TO DIE…!"

"DIE, DIE, DIE!" MarineAngemon squealed in agreement. This didn't help much either.

"Kenta, calm down!" Rika yelled as she grasped Renamon's paw and the back of Henry's shirt collar. The breeze had turned into a wind, whistling past them as they fell faster and faster. "Nobody's going to die!"

"WHEN WE HIT BOTTOM, WE WILL!"

Rika managed to find the presence of mind to groan in exasperation, even as a trickle of fear ran down her spine.

This was not a good situation.

More flashes of white light. Takato pulled his goggles over his eyes; the blue-tinted glass helped a little, but not much. The teenaged Tamer grabbed Guilmon's paw as he peered ahead, biting his lip. Takato realized he was sweating; his hand was slippery against Guilmon's skin. Swallowing the lump in his throat, the Tamer tried to focus on whatever was below them.

The flashes were brighter and faster now. The misty walls around the group were starting to glow a shining silver, adding a thick, hazy quality to the air. Breathing shallowly, Takato tried to look down the tunnel…

The light was coming from a point far off in the distance. The realization that he could actually see something ahead of them worried Takato. They could only see so far in a constricted tunnel like this, so if they could see a flashing point, then they were probably already much closer than they would have liked.

The wind was howling now, whipping Takato's hair back as the group plummeted. It felt as though gravity, absent before, was coming back with a vengeance.

There. The flashing dot ahead of them was now the size of a baseball. Takato gulped. A moment later, he realized, with a start, that it looked almost exactly like the flashing globe he had seen over his shoulder, right after he had found himself falling down the 'rabbit hole'…

"What is that thing?" Mako asked, voicing the thoughts of the rest of the group. The young Tamer was holding onto Impmon tightly, his face scrunched up in alarm and against the light.

"I think that's our destination!" Henry called out. His orange vest was flapping violently in the wind, and Terriermon's ears were doing the same; the rabbit-dog was hanging onto Henry's shoulder with both hands. For once, the small Digimon didn't have a joke handy.

A moment later, they all gasped. The flashing white sphere in front of them was as big as a basketball, but that wasn't what arrested their attention.

Images were shimmering in front of them, fluctuating and shining as they appeared. It was as though there was some giant projector behind them, casting the images into the air.

The images were slightly warped and twisted, but for the most part they seemed to be moving pictures of…

…a city in flames. Burning skyscrapers and smoke-filled skies. A bay churning with dark waves and…

…a brilliant column of radiant pink light, shining into the air. Like a pillar holding up the sky, the light appeared almost solid, cutting through the atmosphere like a scalpel, dominating the images.

Takato realized it instantly. The light was calling them. Pulling them towards it, towards the ground.

Towards those who needed help.

The flashing globe was shining steadily now, like a white star. The misty walls had disappeared in a haze of blazing silver light. And in the center of the shining star, a speck of pink light shone through, slicing its way through the light of the sphere.

As one, the group, both humans and Digimon, reached out for each other, holding hands tightly. Together, they looked like a troupe of sky-divers attempting some complicated formation high in the sky.

"This is it, you guys! Hold on tight, and don't worry!" Takato yelled; his eyes were narrowed to slits against the blinding light. He vaguely felt Guilmon's paw in his left hand, and someone else's sweaty palm-it might be Rika's or Henry's, but he couldn't tell for sure-in his right.

Moments later, the column of pink light burst through the air, enveloping the group in its radiance.

XxXxX

/Highton View Terrace, Odaiba. 8:21 p.m./

Daemon howled in agony and rage as the blazing pink light burned him mercilessly. The backs of his hands blistered as they protected his face and his eyes. His robes were aflame with pink fire, and they were little more than a covering of bleached rags now. His leathery, purple wings were tattered, and they flapped aimlessly as the Demon drowned in the radiance. His mind was seared by the intensity of the light, and all conscious thought had left him floundering in an ocean of pain.

Light is always darkness' greatest bane.

After an eternity of pain, the great flood of radiance began to slow, to dim in intensity. Daemon curled himself in a fetal position, trying to wait out the storm of light. His subconscious had taken over, as all surface thoughts were burned away instantly. His body trembled as the torrent tore at him, but the pain began to lessen, if only a little. At the first sign of relief, his conscious mind came back to the front, and seized at the opportunity. Gritting his teeth, Daemon summoned a ring of fire about him, and began to shroud himself in the smoke and shadow. It didn't protect him as much as he would have liked, but it helped to dull the pain.

Finally, the river of pink light slowed to a trickle, a pale reflection of its former strength. At length, that too disappeared, leaving the ruins of Highton View Terrace as they had been almost a minute before. When at last Daemon slowly brought his hands from his eyes, he gaped at his surroundings, even as he winced at the pain still shooting through his twisted body.

_'I have never felt pain like that before. Surely that much power would not have left this entire area unmarked! Yet, it still stands, as though nothing had happened since the end of our fight!'_

The Demon Lord's widened eyes gazed over the cracked ruins of the street. There were upturned slabs of asphalt everywhere, and it was on many of these that the Digi-Destined and their partners lay, barely conscious. Most of them struggled to move from their prone positions, and they all blinked furiously, still blinded by the light which was no longer present.

Daemon's lips twisted in a snarl, which widened as he felt more pain lance through his face as the burned skin around his mouth stretched. No one had _ever_ caused him pain like this. _No one!_

_'I'll destroy them. Just like I would have before. But this time, I will take pleasure in dealing death swiftly. No more games, no more toying with them. They lie defenseless, weakened beyond all hope of resistance…and I will make them pay.' _

Kari Kamiya lay closest to him, about ten feet away. The brown-haired girl moved weakly as she tried to climb to her knees. After a moment of struggling, she collapsed back to the ground, utterly spent.

Daemon's icy eyes narrowed viciously. _She_ would be the first. He didn't know what the Child of Light had done, but it was apparent that she was in no condition to do anything any longer. With a vicious scowl on his scarred lips and his blistering hands clenched into fists, the Demon Lord took a step forward, towards the girl…

…and stopped in surprise as a field of fog erupted from beneath the girl. The tattered remains of Daemon's robes fluttered as the fog rolled past him, leaving him shrouded in the low cloud. Daemon blinked in confusion as the field spread outwards. In moments, everything within nearly three hundred feet of Kari was enveloped in thick fog, including the Digi-Destined and their Digimon.

T.K., who had been crawling over the obstacles of the broken road on his hands and knees, looked up in surprise. "What…is this?" He asked aloud, his voice hoarse and weak.

"Wow…what a trip." An unfamiliar voice said from some distance away. It sounded like the speaker was near Kari…and from the scuffling of feet and labored breathing, there was more than one person.

A lot more.

"At least it was a soft landing. If it wasn't, we'd probably be jelly right now." A young male, from the sounds of it. Brash, perhaps a little cocky.

"Jelly?" Definitely a Digimon; somewhat childish, with an unusual voice.

"That's not what Kazu meant, Guilmon." Another young man; a teen, probably, like the other. The speaker sounded exasperated as well.

"Oh," came the response from the Digimon.

T.K. peered into the fog, squinting as he tried to identify the speakers. _'Who are these people? And where on earth did they come from? It's like they appeared from nowhere, like all this fog…agh, where's Kari? It sounds like they're near her…'_

"Is this a Digital Field? It seems too thick, and there's a funny smell in the air…" That was the first speaker again; it sounded like a girl. Teenaged (were they all the same age?), with an assertive personality; it was easy to tell from the speaker's tone. She seemed annoyed and curious at the same time.

"It feels much the same, Rika…but there's something like an aftertaste, a different feeling than the kind I get from a normal Digital Field. And what you're smelling is smoke." A Digimon? All this talk of 'Digital Fields' didn't make any sense to T.K…

"I knew that." The girl again; irritated.

"Man, what's up with this road? It's all broken to pieces…it looks like a big sheet of peanut brittle all smashed up…and don't you dare say a thing, Guilmon." Yet _another_ speaker; this voice sounded higher, probably belonged to a Digimon, and had the tone of someone used to being a comic.

Ten points to the first house who guesses this one…

_'How many of them are there?'_ T.K. wondered as he slowly began to crawl forward again. He didn't know if these new arrivals were friendly or not (though something in the back of his mind assured him they were), but he needed to get to Kari, first and foremost.

The sound of several small rocks shifting behind him caused T.K. to jerk his head around. After a moment, he spied Davis' outline moving towards him slowly. As the Digi-Destined's figure became clearer, he saw Davis motion forward with a hand. T.K. nodded back. _''Get to Kari, and find out who these people are'…right. Just like I thought. But what's Daemon up to?'_

Daemon, who had disappeared in the fog, was biding his time. These new arrivals had disturbed him, and the Demon Lord had not become so powerful by being reckless. Better to find out what he was dealing with, first.

"…is this the city we saw from…well, wherever we were?" _Another_ voice. Same age as the other humans; female. A little mild, and concerned. The voice's anxious concern, which was almost tangible in its strength, reached out and tugged at T.K.'s heartstrings.

_'These people are worried, and not just for themselves…but for whoever might be out here in these ruins. Of course, they can't see how bad everything is now, with all this weird fog, but still…'_ The thought of such empathy from total strangers gladdened T.K., and emboldened him. Taking a deep breath, the teenaged Digi-Destined rose to his legs shakily (out of the corner of his eye, he saw Davis do the same), and took his first real step towards the new group.

_Crunch._ That was the sound of the crushed asphalt beneath his shoe. T.K. paused as the air suddenly became charged with alertness. The blond-haired teen could almost _hear_ ears perking, and fists being raised in readiness.

_'Well, it's now or never…and it might be a good idea to do this before they decide I'm an enemy…'_

"Um…hello?"

No answer.

T.K. swallowed, and continued in the tentative silence, "…who's there?" Butterflies were soaring in his stomach; he didn't know why, but this felt so important, and so _strange…_

"…uh…"

More silence.

"…well…I'm Takato Matsuki…I guess you can't see me right now…" It was the second guy; the one who had spoken to 'Guilmon'.

"Yeah. All this fog's in the way." T.K. answered as he peered towards the sound of the voices.

Meanwhile, Takato's mind was running circles around itself. _'Why is this guy's voice so familiar? It's like I've known him for years, but that _can't_ be…I mean, he's from another _world_…'_

Davis, who had been a few feet behind T.K., now stood next to his friend. After sharing a glance, the two shrugged at each other. _'So weird…but, what's next?'_

Takato continued, "I guess there isn't much point in trying to introduce ourselves until we can see each other, so…why don't you fill us in on what's happening here? You see, we sort of got pulled out of our own world, and now we're here, and we don't even know where _here_ is…"

Davis took this opportunity to jump in, stepping into his role as leader of the Digi-Destined. "Well, we're standing in what used to be Highton View Terrace, Odaiba—" A number of the Tamers froze. _Highton View Terrace? Odaiba? And that _voice... "—and we, uh…well, we kind of need some help. I hate to say it, but…we're getting royally trashed." Davis, still unseen by the Tamers and their Digimon, scowled darkly. "And one of our friends is lying somewhere around here, and we need to make sure she's okay. Now." He said this with a fiery authority, and in no situation whatsoever would the Tamers have considered rejecting the implied suggestion.

Renamon, after lifting her head and sniffing the air several times, turned and walked several paces away from the group. Stopping, the tall, fox-like Digimon bent down and lifted a barely conscious Kari in her arms. Turning, she slowly walked towards the two voices from this world, carrying the limp teenaged girl carefully. As she walked, a slight breeze began to flow through the area, slowly dragging wisps of Digital fog along the path of the wind. As Renamon neared the two Digi-Destined, the fog cleared sufficiently for Davis and T.K. to see the elegant Digimon, gently carrying their friend towards them.

With no more hesitation, the two teens dashed forwards, scrambling over the broken remains of the road, oblivious to any other situation at the moment. They forgot about the voices of the strangers, the obstacles of the road, and even Daemon, who still lurked in hiding, observing the scene shrewdly.

Moments later, Renamon carefully handed the girl over to the two boys, who immediately took Kari's arms over their shoulders as they helped her to stand. The Digimon's ears twitched as something in her memory tickled at her. Hadn't she seen these three before? Perhaps on a poster in Shinjuku somewhere, like the little shop where Rika bought Digimon trading cards…

Then, the rest of the Digital Field slowly blew away, leaving the street clear of fog.

Takato, Henry, Rika, Ryo, Kazu, and Kenta gaped in shock.

Standing before them were Davis Motomiya, T.K. Takaishi, and Kari Kamiya. In the flesh. _…characters from the Digimon anime show back home in their own world!_

"You…have _got_…to be kidding me." Kazu said, completely stunned. Beside him, Kenta stood with his jaw dropped to about shoulder level.

"Guys…I don't think we're in Kansas anymore." This was from Ryo, who stood completely bewildered. Next to him, Cyberdramon merely gazed on indifferently. There was no challenge here, with simple humans. Yet, he could sense several weak Digimon nearby as well…and something else, something that made his spine tingle…

"What do you mean by that?" T.K. asked in puzzlement, looking up at the Tamers.

"…well…er, it's sorta…sorta complicated. Really complicated, actually…" Henry said, scratching the back of his head uncomfortably. _'Who knew what traveling to other worlds would mean? This is just so…crazy. I don't think it's even logical. But, then again, how could I possibly know?'_

From the top of his head, Terriermon asked, in a mystified tone, "Henry, is this what I think it is?" He was quickly _shushed_ by his Tamer.

"Complicated how?" Davis replied tersely as he readjusted Kari's arm around his right shoulder. The girl hung limply between the two teens, barely able to hold her own weight. She occasionally murmured beneath her breath, almost deliriously. And that worried Davis more than anything else at the moment.

"…maybe it's better if we waited for explanations." Ryo said, looking around cautiously. "I mean, you did say you guys were in trouble, right?" Ryo's eyes then widened slightly as he looked behind the three teens in front of them.

The rest of Odaiba's Digi-Destined were slowly assembling behind Davis, T.K., and Kari. Most walked with slight limps and small grimaces of pain, and they all carried their In-Training partners, excepting Ken. Cody held both Upamon and Tokomon, while Tai carried Koromon in one hand and Salamon in the other.

Tai replied, as he took his place next to Davis, "Yeah, we are. Seriously. I don't know where he is at the moment, but our enemy's beaten us black and blue. Everyone except Imperialdramon's been defeated, and it looks like he's still unconscious." Tai gestured with his chin towards the fallen Mega, who lay across the street, leaning against a ruined apartment building.

The Tamer's eyes widened and their jaws dropped even further as they looked. Tai wasn't kidding; it definitely _was _the great Dragon Digimon, who some of the Tamers had admired for ages.

To see Imperialdramon Fighter Mode from so close, in real life, was astounding. The majestic Digimon was unbelievable in form, even beaten as badly as he was. And it was easy to see that he had been brutally thrashed.

The burned armor still smoldered slightly, and there were more dents and gashes in it than in the old pickup truck that Kenta's uncle owned. The Digimon's great, red wings were torn and tattered, and his massive body lay limply against the ground, but Imperialdramon still had a look of majesty and splendor to him that startled the Tamers and their Digimon.

Impmon whistled. "Wow. Dat's gotta be da coolest Digimon I've ever seen." The rest of the group nodded in mute wonder.

Davis and Ken's faces lit up with pride. Yes, that was _their_ partner, alright. He couldn't be mistaken for anything else.

Rika was the first to break the spell. "Okay, guys. It looks like you've got some real problems. What can we do to help?" As the Tamers tore their gazes from Imperialdramon, they nodded in consent, their faces hardening with determination.

Matt's mouth was set grimly as he replied, "You can start by finding out where Daemon snuck off to. I don't think that light finished him off…"

_"DAEMON?"_ Several of the Tamers exclaimed loudly. Not surprisingly, they were the ones who had watched the TV show before they had become Tamers; Takato, Henry, Rika, Ryo, and, of course, Kazu and Kenta. The last two immediately clung to Guardromon's two metallic arms as they shivered.

"Somebody please pinch me. I must be having a nightmare," Kazu said as he clung to his partner fearfully.

Guardromon, being the ever-helpful type, obliged him.

"OW! Guardromon, it's a figure of speech!"

"Well, why not just say so in the first place?" Guardromon asked, quite puzzled. Sometimes humans could be so confusing; Kazu not least of all.

The Digi-Destined and their Digimon blinked bemusedly. Takato, seeing this, replied wearily, "You'll get used to it if we stick around long enough."

Then, his eyes narrowed. "So, we're talking about Daemon, right?"

The Digi-Destined nodded in response, although their faces betrayed confusion. How did these strangers know who Daemon was? Had they met him before?

"This is the same Daemon who attacked the Real World sometime around Christmas in…uh, what year is this?" Henry continued, frowning as he tried to think.

Cody, still holding Upamon in his arms, said carefully, "It was Christmas of 2004. Almost six months ago to the day."

Henry started in surprise. _'There's a time discrepancy here.'_ He thought._ 'The second season of the Digimon TV series concluded more than three years ago in our world, back in 2001. It was just a few months before Terriermon came out of my computer. Does time pass more slowly here than it does in our own world?'_ That wasn't a very pleasant thought. If they were to find a way to return home, would they also find that nearly a week had passed while they were here? …fighting Daemon?

If Daemon was here, that was bad. Henry, with catalysts for memory all around him now, recalled the episodes with Daemon vividly. The Demon Lord had been almost unstoppable. All of the attacks of the New Digi-Destined's Digimon had barely scratched him, and they had only been able to prevent his victory when Ken Ichijouji had opened a portal to the Dark Ocean, and the combined forces of their Digimon had sealed him there. But, it seemed he had broken out. And, from the destruction surrounding them, and the looks of exhaustion and pain on the faces of the Digi-Destined and their partners, is seemed as though they had not been so successful this time around.

And this was something else he wanted to know. "How did Daemon get free from the Dark Ocean? I thought you were able to seal him there…?"

"They did indeed. But, as I told them, I would be back, and here I am now!"

In the middle of the street, the Digi-Destined, Tamers, and Digimon turned to the owner of the maliciously evil voice.

The Tamers had never truly met an evil Digimon before. Sure, they had faced feral Digimon who managed to bio-emerge into the Real World (or, at least, _their_ Real World), and they had also faced the Devas and Zhuqiaomon, who had merely been misguided and judgmental. They'd also fought the D-Reaper, a rogue program which had simply wanted to destroy everything because it was interpreting its programming _very_ liberally. But, now that they were faced with Daemon, they were utterly appalled at the wickedness and malice pouring off him.

Daemon hovered about ten feet away, perhaps twelve feet off the ground. His leathery, tattered wings twitched ceaselessly, and his hands were clenched in fists. His ragged robes had been bleached by the intensity of the pink light, and were now a dull gray. And Daemon's eyes, glaring out from underneath his hood, were blazing in their ferocity. Rage radiated from him in droves, though it was slightly tempered by a tinge of mystified curiosity in the depths of his icy blue eyes.

Kazu and Kenta cowered behind Guardromon, and Jeri, Suzie, Ai, and Mako quickly followed, peeking around the metallic Digimon. He, MarineAngemon, Impmon, and Lopmon now stood together in front of their Tamers (plus Jeri), their eyes narrowed at the evil Digimon above them.

The Digi-Destined, who now stood between the Tamers and Daemon, glared up at him as they held their beaten partners. Daemon, seeing the defiance in his previous foes and the fear in the faces of the newcomers, laughed raucously.

"I'm surprised you've heard of me. And, I must admit, I'm rather taken aback at your knowledge of our past. There were few who saw our last encounter, between me and these Digi-Destined, and fewer still who would have understood it. How did you know?" Daemon was openly curious, but the muscles beneath his robes were bunched, and he was more than ready for another fight.

Takato, jerked from his startled daze, replied hotly, "That's none of your business! You're an evil Digimon, and you don't deserve any answers from us!" He then recoiled slightly as Daemon's glare intensified.

Davis whistled beneath his breath. "This guy's got spunk," he said beneath his breath to T.K. and Tai. The two nodded in agreement, although their faces showed worry.

Daemon continued to glare at Takato, but then, out of the blue, began to chuckle, startling the group assembled below him. "Heh, heh, heh. You're a feisty one. You have some real fire in you. I might almost compare you to this one," he said as he flicked a finger towards Davis.

Takato was taken aback. _'He's comparing me to Davis Motomiya? Wow. I must have done something right…'_ Then he gulped._ 'On the other hand, it was probably something that's going to get us into a world of trouble…'_

Daemon chuckled again. "You're not very polite, though. But I'll answer your question anyway. It's simple, really. Opening a portal from the Dark Area to the Real World is not unlike opening one from the Digital World to here. And the first time is always the easiest." Daemon spread his wings wide, and gestured with his arms, encompassing the whole of the ruined Highton View Terrace. "And once I was capable of creating a gateway _all by myself--_"

Takato's eye twitched. Why was his tone so vicious at that point?

"—I summoned my army to me and invaded the Real World. As I said before, I would come back. And this time, I would be victorious. And here I stand now, undefeated." Daemon threw back his head and laughed loudly.

Davis took a step forward and raised his fist. "We're not beaten yet! And we're never going to give up!"

_'Same inspirational speeches that were on the show.'_ Takato thought to himself, bemusedly._ 'I suppose it doesn't surprise me, but it _does_ sound more…I don't know, _real_ on this side. Maybe because I know they're real people, and that the resolve they have is just as real. And that resolve has been what's kept these guys on top, beating the odds every time, all by themselves.'_

"Pah. Look around you. Your mightiest fighter lies senseless, and the only ones who could possibly stand up to me are these young strangers. And I doubt any one of them could fight me. You're beaten, and alone. And you'll die that way, once I'm finished with you. And after that, I'll continue on in this world, destroying all who oppose me, and taking my place as the rightful ruler of this and all worlds!" Daemon cackled darkly and cracked his knuckles in preparation for the beating he was about to administer. The bones made sharp _popping _noises, and the humans below him flinched in revulsion and dread.

Except Takato.

"Possessing power doesn't give you the right to do whatever you want! Especially all this!" Takato swept his arm out, emphasizing the ruins of the neighborhood, as he shouted up at the Demon Lord angrily. He took a step forward as he spoke, and gritted his teeth. Guilmon stepped forward with him, the pupils of his eyes narrowed to slits. A soundless, feral growl was rising in the Digimon's throat, and he glared up at the Dark Digimon, treading in the tide of oncoming bloodlust.

The Digi-Destined, noticing this with surprise and no small amount of trepidation, stepped back from the pair. The mood shift in the two startled them, and they eyed each other as they watched Henry, Rika, and Ryo join the pair, with their partners right next to them.

Takato continued, "Look at what you've done! No one should have to suffer through this! It's not right! And those who take pleasure in inflicting this sort of pain have _absolutely no right to continue living here!"_ As Takato shouted this at the top of his lungs, he pulled his golden D-Arc from his pocket and held it aloft as the screen shone blinding white. Behind him, the other three Tamers did the same, their faces set with grim resolve.

_"DAEMON, WE'RE GOING TO STOP YOU! THE DIGI-DESTINED DON'T HAVE TO STAND ALONE ANYMORE! **NOT AGAINST EVIL LIKE YOU!"**_

Daemon snarled as the ruins of Highton View Terrace erupted with white light. He then reached out as four voice called out simultaneously, at the top of their lungs—

**_"BIOMERGE ACTIVATE!"_**

XxXxX

"Well. This is an interesting development."

Six shadowy figures stood about a massive stone pedestal, deep underground, where the darkness was strongest. The great pedestal's top, which was nearly fifteen feet in diameter, was hollowed out in the form of a giant bowl. The basin's edge was ringed with sharp, stone teeth and claws which stuck up into the air all around it, while the body of the pedestal was adorned with intricate carvings of demons and serpents. Inside the center of the basin sat a large, red, demonic eye, wrapped in a layer of thick, clear mucus. Reflected on the surface of this mucus were images of Odaiba, wreathed in smoke, flame, and, for the second time in the past ten minutes, blinding light.

"Fool." One of the figures said aloud, his voice twisted with disgust and irritation. His aggravated tone supplemented the growl in his throat. A lithe, long tail flexed behind the figure, quivering with the speaker's barely suppressed emotions.

"Whatever do you mean by that, dear friend?" Another figure asked, her voice adorned with light seduction and guile.

"Don't play your games with me, you dried-up old seductress!" The second speaker snarled in disgust. His teeth were bared in a livid snarl, and he raised his clawed hands as though prepared to strike; his whipcord tail lashed the air around him vehemently.

"Dried-up? I'm still quite fresh. Fresh enough to take you, I think…" The female replied, with a slight edge settling into her voice. A dark dress rippled around her as she too raised a hand. Razor sharp nails glistened as the woman brought a single arm up to eye level.

"Calm yourselves, both of you. If you want to fight, take it outside. You're disturbing the images." The first voice said. Its owner, who had spoken first in the conversation, sounded amused.

The second figure, little more than a dark silhouette against the dull, red glow of the eye in the basin, held his aggressive pose for several seconds before reluctantly lowering his arms. Turning back to the stone basin, he growled, on the edge of a shout, "Quit blinking!"

The demonic eye had, indeed, blinked, momentarily shutting off the images cast on the liquid's surface.

The second speaker reared back his right arm and dealt the liquid a vicious, back-handed blow, sending ripples across the surface and splashing the other figure closest to him.

"Really, that was uncalled for." This was the voice of an old man, slightly irritated at the brashness of youth. The old man wiped a stream of mucus from his face before flicking it back into the pool. The congealed drop landed with a muffled _splat_, inviting the second figure's lips to curl in disgust.

"Normally, Daemon's the one inclined to wrath," The first speaker said. He still sounded amused. "And please stop it. You're disturbing my pet."

The woman, labeled as a 'dried-up old seductress', replied with a slight, sweet laugh, "Your _pet?_ Goodness, you certainly become attached to our playthings, don't you?"

The eye's 'owner' half-smiled and tilted his head in acknowledgement.

"Can we just…" The new speaker, small with two purple wings and a pair of slim goat horns on its head, yawned widely before continuing, "relax and watch it all turn out…?" The sound of little snores began to drift across the underground room, causing the little fellow's companions to shake their heads. The second figure, his tail still whipping the air restlessly, rolled his eyes as he scowled.

"Yeah." A massive tail slammed against the ground, sending violent tremors through the liquid in the basin and causing the eye to roll around frantically as it searched for the disturbance. "I want to see this." This figure was massive, stretching nearly thirty feet from the tip of its tail to its snout. More crocodilian than anything, the beast lay in a pool of dark water close by. The tail, which hung over the lip of the pool, slammed down again, as though to reinforce the words spoken.

The first figure, who seemed to be the leader of the group (unofficially, at least) spread his hands over the basin and whispered, _"Shh, shh."_ The eyeball, at the sound of the voice, stilled, and began to project the images of Odaiba on the surface again.

"So do I, my friend," The leader said as he soothed his 'pet'. "So do I."

XxXxX

/Highton View Terrace, Odaiba. 8:26 p.m./

If Daemon's glare could kill, his own hands would have been toasted long ago. For the second time in the past ten minutes or so, he was shielding his eyes from dazzling light. Fortunately, this light did nothing but annoy him; no pain or burning involved. However, he couldn't see a thing, and the inconvenience was really starting to tick him off.

The light disappeared as suddenly as it had begun to shine. Daemon lowered his hands, which were still blistered, and…

…stared at the four new warriors in front of him.

The first was an Exalted Knight Digimon, close to seven feet tall, dressed in white armor and a flowing red cape. The Digimon had red shoulder-guards, knee-guards, and elbow-guards. On his chest was a black Hazard symbol; three triangles situated around a circle. Above his facemask, which was shaped like that of a medieval knight, was a red visor that looked suspiciously like the face of that feral, dinosaur Digimon which Daemon hadn't recognized. The Knight held a long, metallic lance over his right arm; the base of the lance completely covered the hand and lower forearm, so it appeared that the weapon was attached below the Digimon's elbow. Finally, in his left hand, he held a massive, round shield. Again, something like the Hazard symbol was present in the middle, except this time it had a single large, red triangle in the center with three smaller triangles pointing out from the sides. Surrounding the symbol were eight sharper, golden triangles, situated in a ring around it.

_Gallantmon._

The second Digimon was huge. He stood as high as the ruined apartment buildings around them; almost as high as Imperialdramon Fighter Mode would stand at full height. The behemoth's body was covered in green, plated armor, like a tank, and he had two large, circular Gatling guns attached above his large hands. To complete the arsenal, the Digimon's shoulders were two massive rocket launchers. The rockets in the launchers were yellow and had simplistic, frowning rabbit faces on the front.

_MegaGargomon._

The third Digimon was a little over six and a half feet tall. She held a tall, golden staff in her right hand; a circular ornament was mounted at the top of the staff, and several gold hoops were linked to it. She wore a golden mask, which covered the upper half of her face, with a breastplate and shoulder-guards of the same color. Two long ponytails of silver hair flowed over the Digimon's back, giving her a look of elegance and grace.

_Sakuyamon._

The final Digimon was around the same height as the first and the third. His right arm was cybernetic, covered in armored metal. He had a silver mask which completely covered his face, but it didn't help hide the Digimon's confidence and substantial ego. The two red scarves which fluttered behind him in the breeze only cemented this image in Daemon's mind.

_Justimon._

Daemon's eyes narrowed. "What is this?" He asked as he balled his hands into fists.

Davis, who was staring at the Digimon in awe, managed, "Normally, I don't agree with the bad guys, but I'll make an exception for this. _Who are those guys?"_ He asked the remaining Tamers. As he realized who he was asking, he looked around, bewildered. "…and where did those other guys go? Takato, or whatever his name was, and the other three who were with him?" He looked around wildly, searching for the four missing Tamers.

Kazu, who had stepped out from behind his partner, said smugly, "You're lookin' at 'em."

Davis did a comic double-take. "Huh…?"

Kenta added, "It's called Biomerge Digivolution." He was about to say more, but Izzy interrupted him.

"Biomerge? Hang on a second…" Izzy was thinking furiously. _''Bio-' and 'merge', describing a Digivolution?'_ "Does that mean…?"

"Yep." Kazu grinned. "Digimon and Tamer, fighting together as one kick-butt Mega-level Digimon. It's almost poetic, but I failed poetry back in Ms. Asaji's classes, so I won't try to say anything. I'll just embarrass myself."

"God forbid," Rika's half of Sakuyamon said dryly, startling the Digi-Destined as the Digimon spoke in Rika's voice.

"Hey…!"

"Tamers, huh?" Tai asked, turning to the newcomers. "Is that what you guys call yourselves?"

The rest of the Tamers nodded proudly. The Digimon nodded as well, for good measure.

"Wow. Fighting together? That'd be awesome…" Davis replied, with a dreamy look on his face. "Me and Veemon would be such an awesome team…"

"Enough chit-chat, you guys! Get somewhere safe while we handle this guy!" Gallantmon yelled in the dual voice of both Takato and Guilmon.

"No sweat. Well, we might sweat a little, but no problem," Terriermon's half spoke cheerfully from MegaGargomon.

"Terriermon, please don't start making jokes now. Especially bad ones…" Henry replied. In the meantime, he flexed MegaGargomon's giant fists. He hadn't been in this form for nearly two months, since the last Mega had bio-emerged back home…

"You heard him, Terriermon," Justimon said, amused. Cyberdramon's gravelly voice contrasted greatly with Ryo's, but they sounded perfectly coordinated as Justimon.

"Aw, too bad. I came up with a whole batch of new ones for a situation just like this…"

"Right! Let's finish this!" Gallantmon yelled, cutting off the conversation. He jumped up into the air, rearing back the lance on his right arm as he prepared for a strike.

Daemon's eyes narrowed. "You want to play? Fine! Whatever sort of hybrid you are, I'll defeat you just as I defeated the Digi-Destined! EVIL INFERNO!" With his hands covered in hellish fire, Daemon threw a stream of super-hot flames towards Gallantmon as he flew towards him.

Gallantmon, reacting instantly, brought his Aegis shield to bear. The flames washed over the shields edges, just toasting the Biomerged Digimon's sides.

With his leap's momentum still carrying him forward, Gallantmon angled his shield to the side so the flames would not push him back down to the ground so quickly. The flames were diverted down towards the road, just missing the group of Digi-Destined, Tamers, and Digimon on the ground. The group yelled in alarm before scampering up the street, farther away from the attacking Digimon.

_'This fight is way too close to the others. Okay, just a little farther…a little farther…'_

When Gallantmon was close enough, he spun rapidly in midair with a cry, bringing his lance around in a full circle towards Daemon's head. Daemon, seeing this attack, stopped his stream of fire and brought both his fists up to block the physical attack. The lance hit the Demon's hands hard, and Daemon stifled a cry of rage at the pain shooting down his arms. The skin on his hands was still blistered, and the impact of Gallantmon's attack left no doubt in Daemon's mind; this was going to hurt.

Rearing back a fist, while holding the lance with the other, Daemon slammed it into Gallantmon's face. The attack sent the Mega flying to the ground, but the Exalted Knight gracefully executed a somersault in midair, touching down on his feet. Daemon snarled in anger. _'This might be more difficult than I thought…'_

This idea was only reinforced as Justimon leapt up in front of him, with his right leg pulled back like a piston waiting to blow. "Nobody gets away with what you've done here. And I'm called Justimon for a reason. JUSTICE KICK!" Justimon lashed out with his coiled leg in a powerful kick. Daemon brought both of his arms up to block, but he was dismayed to find himself flying backwards through the air for several feet as soon as Justimon's attack hit. _'Gah…my fight with the Digi-Destined and that cursed light has weakened me. I'm not even close to full strength.'_

On the street below, the group of humans and Digimon had taken refuge several hundred feet away, and were now watching the battle above them with wide eyes.

"Wow. They're really pounding at him!" Tanemon exclaimed weakly from beside Mimi as the human girl helped Davis and T.K. carefully lower Kari to the ground. Mimi nodded in assent as soon as she was sure Kari was coming around. _'These Tamers are really strong! I wonder what they've done before coming here?'_

Kari, from her sitting position on the ground, blinked dazedly up at the faces of her friends. "…what happened? All I remember is a really bright light, and…"

"Don't worry about it, Kari." Mimi answered. "Just relax."

T.K. nodded his head. "Yeah. I think we're in good hands right now."

Kari blinked. "Huh?"

Davis pointed to the battle being waged down the street. "I don't know how, but these guys and their Digimon showed up out of nowhere, and they're helping us fight Daemon! And guess what?"

"…what?" Kari asked in confusion.

Davis grinned. "They're called Tamers, and some of them can Digivolve with their Digimon! Like DNA Digivolution, except with a human and his partner instead of just two Digimon! It's awesome!"

Kari cocked her head in confusion. "…Davis, have you been eating my mother's fungus cookies again?"

Davis palmed his face in consternation. "No, Kari, I learned my lesson the last time…"

T.K. jumped in at this point. "Really, Kari, Davis is serious. Those four Digimon fighting Daemon are actually four of the Tamers and their Digimon, fighting together."

"Oh. Well, if you say so, T.K…."

Davis groaned and slapped his face again. "Even now, she finds time to flirt with T.K. and leave me out to dry?"

Mimi patted Davis on the shoulder. "Don't worry, Davis. I'm sure she'll take you seriously someday."

"That's reassuring…"

xxxxx

Impmon, meanwhile, was staring incredulously up at the sky. Ai, noticing this, asked her friend, "What's wrong, Impmon?"

Impmon shook his head. "I'm tryin' ta figure out why I ain't up there right now!" Turning to Ai and Mako, he said, with a glint in his eye, "I'm gonna go help 'em. I'll be back, alright?"

Ai and Mako considered this for a moment before nodding reluctantly. Impmon was strong, and they needed to help their friends however they could.

Impmon grinned and nodded his thanks. "'Tanks, you guys. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine."

Then, Impmon was enveloped in the light of Digivolution.

_Impmon Warp-Digivolve to…Beelzemon! _

Beelzemon stood about as tall as Gallantmon, which is around six and a half feet. Dressed completely in black leather and a jacket with a white fur-trimmed collar, Beelzemon looked more like a slim biker than a Digimon at first glance. But, the strong, whipcord tail and the three red eyes behind his purple facemask (the third eye was centered between and above the other two) immediately set that notion to rest. Holstered on his back and the bottom of his left leg were his two double-barreled Berenjena shotguns; both of which really looked and handled more like oversized pistols. To top the overall appearance, Impmon's red bandana was tied around Beelzemon's left bicep.

All in all, a really cool Digimon.

The Digi-Destined and their partners gaped at the new Mega. Beelzemon nodded to them before saying, in a much lower voice than Impmon, but still with the same accent, "Don't go nowhere. I'll be back."

And with that tribute to The Terminator, Beelzemon turned on his heel and slowly strode off towards the raging fight.

Behind him, Tai's eyes were bugging out. _"Warp-Digivolve? Beelzemon?_ That makes FIVE MEGAS! How did you guys get such strong partners?" Tai asked in disbelief.

Ai and Mako shrugged.

"We don't know. Impmon's just our friend. That's all that really matters to us." Mako replied as he looked after their partner.

Tai considered this before nodding. In his arms, Koromon said, "They're right, of course. But it's still _really _cool." The round Digimon added with a grin.

Tai grinned as well. "Yeah…but WarGreymon's still cooler!"

"That's the spirit, Tai." Matt said as he lightly punched his friend on the arm. Next to him, Sora and Yokomon chuckled at the exchange.

Davis grinned, but then froze. In all the excitement, he had forgotten…

"Imperialdramon!" He cried out, immediately scrambling over the rocks surrounding the group.

Ken started, and then yelled, "Wait for me, Davis!" The blue-haired Digi-Destined quickly followed his friend as the rest of the group stared after them.

Yolei, in a worried tone, asked, "Do you think we should follow them?"

Cody shook his head in response. "If we all followed, we'd probably attract Daemon's attention. And that's the last thing Imperialdramon needs right now." The young boy looked towards the fallen Imperialdramon, who was lying about seven hundred feet away, sprawled against the remains of an apartment.

The giant Digimon appeared to still be unconscious. In fact, Cody was astonished that he hadn't de-Digivolved yet; the strain of the fight had been so great, yet Imperialdramon still hung on, refusing to weaken even in sleep.

There was a good reason that Imperialdramon was the Digi-Destined's trump card.

xxxxx

"Evil Flapping!" Daemon's wings might be tattered, but they were still good for flying and attacking. The gale of dark wind slammed into Gallantmon and sent the Mega flying into a building with a yell. Behind the Demon, Sakuyamon rushed forward, holding her staff above her, braced for an attack.

Out of the corner of his eye, Daemon spied the Shaman Digimon coming towards him, and brought both his arms up into an X to block Sakuyamon's vertical attack. The attack was stopped immediately, and the golden hoops at the top of the staff jumped up and down as their momentum was suddenly arrested. With a grimace, Sakuyamon jumped back.

"Spirit Strike!" Four spirit foxes, red, blue, green, and yellow erupted from the glowing aura around Sakuyamon's body. The foxes leapt towards Daemon, and Sakuyamon had the momentary satisfaction of seeing Daemon's eyes widen in surprise.

The fox spirits collided with the Demon, biting and clawing at his body. They might be insubstantial, but they were giving Daemon quite a time. As the Demon Lord struggled with the attack, Sakuyamon turned and shouted, "Take him!"

"My pleasure!" MegaGargomon yelled back as he flew up. "Power Pummel!" Rearing back his giant fist with a cry, MegaGargomon slammed it into Daemon with enough force to send the Demon into the ground. A cloud of dust and pebbles blew into the sky from the speed of Daemon's impact.

"Yeah, nice one!"

"Don't get cocky, Terriermon. You know it's never that easy."

"That's all I get from you, Henry. Come on, lighten up!"

The cloud of dust turned into a whirlwind as Daemon shot up into the air, flapping his great wings.

"…on second thought, you have a point there, buddy."

"Glad you see things my way."

"YOU'LL PAY FOR YOUR INTERFERENCE!" Daemon roared as he brought both hands back above his head. With a deranged look in his icy eyes, Daemon brought them back down with a cry.

_"CHAOS FLARE!"_

The stream of fire erupting from Daemon's hands was even larger and hotter than his previous attacks. The inferno burned its way through the air, and the smell of fresh ozone was nearly overwhelming, even in the space of a few seconds.

MegaGargomon braced himself with his arms, but it didn't do much good. The attack overwhelmed him, scorching his plated armor and racking his body with sudden, burning pain. The giant Digimon fell to the ground as his strength was sapped from withstanding the attack. If this kept up much longer, he'd have to de-Digivolve, and then both Henry and Terriermon would be fried to a crisp instantly. The attack was relentless, and it didn't seem like Daemon would stop anytime soon…

"Lightning Joust!"

Gallantmon's attack slammed into Daemon's back _hard_, forcing the Demon to discontinue his assault as he turned to face his attacker with a dark scowl.

MegaGargomon blinked several times at the sudden relief, and tried to get up. He fell back to the ground a second later, groaning.

"I'll be fine…just give me a minute or two…" He said as he tried to catch his breath and restore some energy.

Daemon fixed Gallantmon with a death glare as he flexed his fingers, before curling them into iron-hard fists.

Gallantmon shrugged and spread his arms in response. "I can't let you hurt my friends like that."

"Then why don't you all go home and play with your Digi-dolls instead?" Daemon snarled. Taking a moment to gather his strength, Daemon flew even faster than before, completely disappearing before materializing in front of Gallantmon.

Gallantmon blinked. "…that was fast."

"Too fast for the likes of you." Daemon's hands were wreathed in flames as he brought them right in front of Gallantmon's face.

_"EVIL—"_

"Aw, nuts."

_"INFER—"_

_BAM!_

Daemon reeled as Justimon's kick landed square on the side of his head, sending him flying into the air. The flames on his hands vanished as the Demon lost concentration and control.

Gallantmon leapt back quickly, catching his breath as he landed.

"Thanks, Ryo. That was a close one."

"Don't mention it, Takato," said Ryo's half of Justimon. "Just keep an eye out. We wouldn't want to lose you to this stuffed excuse for a demon, now would we?"

Takato snorted. "Your priorities are fine, but you might be a little more tactful."

Ryo laughed in response. "When Kazu and Guardromon Biomerge and save the day, Takato."

"You never know. It could happen." Takato answered, grinning.

About four hundred feet away, Kazu sneezed. As he sniffled, Jeri asked, "Do you think someone's talking about you, Kazu?"

Kazu rubbed the bottom of his nose with a finger before replying dubiously, "I doubt it."

Guardromon added cheerfully, "If anyone _was_ speaking of Kazu, I'm sure they had only good things to say."

xxxxx

"Hey, meathead! How'd you like a loada' dis? DOUBLE IMPACT!" Beelzemon's two shotguns roared and jumped with recoil as he fired repeatedly, aiming at the Demon above him.

Daemon, his mind still foggy from Justimon's kick in the head, whirled about just in time to see the bullets coming. _'What…?'_

With an instant to act, Daemon spun to the side. The attack missed…for the most part.

Daemon's face twisted in pain as he felt several of the bullets punch through his right wing. Turning his head, the Demon Lord saw several small holes, all spaced randomly in the stretched skin. Grimacing, Daemon inclined his head to look at his newest attacker.

Beelzemon surveyed the damage done by his attack with a satisfied smirk. "Not so tough after all, are ya? I was hardly even tryin'…"

_'A Beelzemon? Interesting.'_ Daemon snorted in dismissal. _'But he's hardly worthy to be called a 'Great Demon Lord'…and this Digimon is a partner to a human, as well. Weak.'_

Technically, Impmon is a partner to two humans, but Daemon's not one to know, and what does it matter anyway?

Daemon laughed aloud mockingly, though the pain of his newest injury was enough to add a rough edge to the laughter.

Beelzemon's lips curled in a scowl. "Hey! What're you laughin' at, punk?"

Daemon replied, over his hoarse chuckles, "You, my friend. I can tell you're a Digimon who loves a good fight. But you're a fool. You're picking a fight with Daemon…and no one who fights me lives."

Beelzemon snorted. "I ain't yer ordinary Digimon, pal. I got friends, friends who give me strength. I t'ink dat's a concept you don't know nothin' about." He gestured around with both arms, still holding his weapons. "And everyone here's alive so far, ain't they? And dey've beaten you before. 'My right?"

That did it.

"You impudent whelp! You dare insult me? _Then take your punishment like a Mon!"_ Drawing on his strength, Daemon willed his body to speed up, moving faster than normal. An instant later, he was soaring towards Beelzemon faster than the eye could track.

Beelzemon smirked as he quickly holstered his guns. "Sorry, pal, but I seen you use dat trick already." At that, the Mega closed both of his normal eyes. The third eye, near the center of his forehead, widened as Beelzemon stood still, concentrating silently.

An instant before Daemon struck, Beelzemon opened both his normal eyes and bared his teeth in a fierce grin. The Mega reached up with both of his clawed hands, deftly grabbing Daemon's fire-wreathed fists before they could reach his face.

Daemon's icy eyes widened in surprise. "How…?"

"I told ya, I ain't no normal Digimon. I'm Beelzemon. And besides…yer not as fast as ya think." Throwing both of Daemon's fists to the sides, Beelzemon brought his hands above his head; the claws on them glinted purple as they gleamed in the meager light.

"Darkness Claw!"

The Mega brought both his hands down swiftly, his razor sharp claws slicing thin lines of purple through the air.

Daemon yelped as the attack cut through his robes and into his flesh. Beelzemon smirked again as he reached back and below for his holstered weapons.

_'This can't be happening! I'm too weak, and these Digimon are fresh, at full strength!'_

The bleakness of the situation was starting to become apparent to Daemon. His strength had been sapped by the combined effects of his earlier battle with the Digi-Destined and the great column of pink light which erupted from the Child of Light.

_'Perhaps I should have accepted their help…'_ Daemon thought to himself as he dodged another volley from Beelzemon's shotguns. An instant later, he squashed the thought viciously.

_'No. I will rule these worlds myself, with no other. I have never needed them in the past, and I do not need them now. I am Daemon, the greatest of the Demon Lords! I will destroy these meddling fools myself!'_

Steeling himself, Daemon spun around, seizing Sakuyamon's staff before it could slam into his head. Pulling with all his might, he slung her around through the night air, like a stone from David's slingshot. Timing his release carefully, Daemon let go, allowing the Shaman Digimon to smash into Beelzemon on the ground. The two Digimon groaned as they hit the ground together, cracking the street below them.

"EVIL INFERNO!" Daemon almost screamed as he summoned the flames to his hands. Arching his back, the Demon hurled the river of fire at the two as hard as possible.

Sakuyamon and Beelzemon looked up in alarm…

…and breathed in relief as Gallantmon jumped in front, protecting the three of them with his Aegis shield.

"We have to…argh…stop him…somehow," Gallantmon said breathlessly as he pushed against the flames; his shield was starting to heat up, warming his hands uncomfortably. That was a bad sign.

"Justice Burst!" Blue bursts of energy shot out from Justimon's metallic arm rapidly, hitting Daemon's side successively. His concentration broken, Daemon turned to Justimon, enraged.

Gallantmon, Sakuyamon, and Beelzemon, now free from the Demon Lord's attack, stood together as Justimon and Daemon traded off punches.

"Takato, have you got any bright ideas underneath those goggles? No matter how many times we hit him, he keeps coming back, ready for more!" Rika said in frustration.

"'Have ta agree with Sakuyamon, buddy," Beelzemon added as he checked his guns. "We're whittlin' away at 'im, but we can't keep it up foreva'."

Gallantmon nodded wearily. "I know. I'm already tired. This fight's taking a lot out of me."

Sakuyamon scowled and looked towards Justimon and Daemon…and then looked past them at MegaGargomon.

"Uh…guys? MegaGargomon's up…"

The other two turned to look.

Beelzemon said, "Boy, he looks ticked."

Gallantmon stared before gulping. "You know, it might be a good idea to go protect the others now."

The dark Mega frowned. "Why would we…?" Then he got it. "…oh. Yeah, dat might be a good idea."

Sakuyamon got the idea, too. "Hey, Justimon!"

"What?" Justimon shouted in response as he dodged a stream of fire.

Gallantmon answered, "Let's get out of here!"

_"Huh?"_ Hearing Ryo and Cyberdramon so clueless made Rika half-smile, even in her unease.

Gallantmon gestured behind Justimon with his lance.

Justimon looked.

And Justimon ran.

Daemon watched as the four Digimon ran back towards the cluster of humans and Digimon farther up the road.

"Why are they running now, after all this time?" He asked aloud as he frowned, puzzled.

He got his answer a moment later.

A certain Digimon had regained his feet. And he was, as Beelzemon so eloquently put it, ticked off.

MegaGargomon yelled loudly, "HEY, DAEMON! HOW 'BOUT A LITTLE PAYBACK?" The plates all over the Mechanoid Digimon's body opened, revealing dozens of missile launchers. The front of the bunny-faced missiles in his shoulders dilated open as well, revealing two more large groups of launchers in MegaGargomon's shoulders. To top it all off, the giant Digimon brought his hands up, pointing the massive Gatling guns toward his target.

_"WELL HAVE SOME OF THIS! **MEGA BARRAGE**!"_

The Gatling guns bucked as they spewed their blazing ammo, as every single launcher erupted with missiles and rockets, over and over again. And the massive arsenal had one target; Daemon.

The Demon Lord turned at the sound of MegaGargomon's challenge…and paled beneath his hood.

**_BBBBBBBOOOOOOOMMMMMMM!_**

The night sky lit up with a hundred explosions, like a Fourth of July celebration gone horribly wrong. The force of the blast threw rocks the size of Davis' head through the air like pebbles. The sound deafened everyone in the area, and they all fell to the ground, clutching their ears as the explosions roared over Tokyo Bay.

From the shores of Tokyo's other districts, the civilian populace cowered as Odaiba was illuminated by the light of the blast. The military, which had been ordered to hang back once Odaiba's population had escaped across the bay, stood restlessly as they watched the chain of explosions light up the night sky.

xxxxx

"…do you think we might have overdone it a little?"

"Gee, Terriermon, I don't know. We only leveled every building within two blocks."

"I really am rubbing off on you, aren't I? Maybe we should stop hanging out together, because you're starting to scare me…"

"Terriermon…" Henry replied exasperatedly. Were he in human form, he would have put a hand to his face and shaken his head. As MegaGargomon, he had to content himself with watching as Gallantmon and the others stood from their protective positions around their other friends farther up the street.

Or rather, what had once been a street. It was more of a giant field of pulverized rock, now.

Henry sighed as he shook his head. _'Oops.'_

"Look on the bright side, Henry. I don't see Daemon anywhere."

"…you know, one would think you'd have learned your lesson by now, Terriermon."

"What do you mean by…?" Then, the Digimon's eyes widened reflexively as his senses gave him a clue.

The ground was trembling beneath him. He could feel it easily, like a small earthquake. The very rocks around him were vibrating.

"…never mind."

xxxxx

"Now what?" Tai asked in frustration as he stood shakily to his feet. It was rather difficult to stand, seeing as how the ground seemed determined to mimic the stadium at one of Matt's rock concerts; it was throbbing strong enough to shatter his teeth.

In any case, something was up. And, considering the situation, it was probably Daemon.

Unless MegaGargomon's attack had inadvertently set off an earthquake…

_'That has got to be one of the most destructive attacks I've ever seen! Look at this place! It was a mess before, but now…well, at least the city won't have to demolish anything around here. It's already been done.'_

Tai was right, to a point. As Henry had pointed out, just about everything within a two block radius had been completely flattened. Everything solid had been reduced to rubble; most of which was now the size of computer monitors, or smaller.

All in all, MegaGargomon's attack had been extremely effective.

Except for one small problem…

A colossal cyclone suddenly erupted from the shattered ground, sending thousands of pounds of Highton View Terrace's remains into the night sky. Tai staggered backwards in shock as a dark figure ascended in the middle of the windstorm, ragged wings spread wide.

_'No way. Not after all that. It's not possible…!'_

Daemon stood suspended in the middle of the twister, but he didn't look the same as before. His robes can be completely incinerated, and he now floated free of them, and the group below got their first real look at him.

The tattered wings were the same, though the red claws at the tips had extended and become more wicked looking. The same was true for the claws on his feet and hands, which were clenched in fists so tight they were bleeding a deep, red blood. He was covered in brownish, shaggy fur, and wild, black hair hung down his back. But his face was the worst.

It was demonic, and animalistic in its fury. Fangs jutted from his mouth, and the skin was pulled taught in a vicious snarl. And his eyes, which were still the same icy blue they had been before, had become portals to Hell's fires. Those below him quailed at the sheer strength of his hate-filled gaze, and they clung to each other in near-panic as the debris around them rocked in the gale.

_"**YOU THOUGHT YOU COULD DEFEAT ME? ME, DAEMON, GREATEST OF THE SEVEN GREAT DEMON LORDS? YOU FOOLS! HOW DARE YOU STAND AGAINST ME? ME, AND MY RIGHT TO THIS WORLD! ALL THE WORLDS WILL BE MINE! THE REAL WORLD, THE DIGITAL WORLD, THE DARK AREA…THERE IS NO DISTINCTION! ALL BELONGS TO ME!"**_

The Demon Lord, in his true, unmasked form, pointed down at the cowering group of humans and Digimon below him, reveling in their terror.

**_"AND YOU, WHO STOOD IN MY WAY, SHALL PAY FOR ALL ETERNITY! ALGOL'S FLAME!"_**

Daemon reared back his head and inhaled for five long seconds. When his lungs were filled, so was his mouth; it was brimming with blue fire, so hot that the rocks flying around the Great Demon Lord caught fire and melted instantly, popping into smoldering bits of lava. The melted rock then continued on its upward spiral through the air, turning the whirlwind into a tornado of fire. Daemon, in the center of the inferno, slowly brought his fire-filled mouth to bear on the terrified group below him…

_"POSITRON LASER!"_

The timing of the attack was flawless. The laser blast slammed into Daemon's back, burning the fur on it with its intensity. Daemon, taken by surprise, lost control of his attack—

—and it exploded in his open mouth.

The fiery whirlwind erupted with new intensity. The remnant of Daemon's attack merged with the wind, creating a rotating wall of blue fire hundreds of feet high, tunneling into the upper atmosphere. In the center of it all, Daemon writhed in agony. Battered and burned by his own strongest attack, the greatest of the Demon Lords screamed as stray bits of scorched data began to drift from his weakening body, slowly dissipating in the inferno.

After a long minute of unbelievable torture, the blue flames began to die. Finally, there was nothing to left to see in the air above…except Daemon.

He was a misshapen shadow of his former self. His wings had been burned away, reduced to scraps of leathery flesh hanging from his back. His fur and hair had long since disappeared, leaving horribly burned, glossy, gray flesh behind. His limbs twitched endlessly, jerking as the muscles attempted to respond to dead nerves.

His eyes were the same, but now they sat in asymmetrical sockets; the flesh around them had melted and flowed down his face, giving his demonic face an even more hideous appearance.

The Demon's head slowly jerked around, twitching ceaselessly. When at last it had finished its turn, his hate-filled blue eyes found their target.

Imperialdramon Fighter Mode stood below on the shattered ground, his laser cannon smoking. Beside him, Davis and Ken looked up triumphantly, their hands on their massive partner's legs.

_"…y…y…yo…you…"_ Daemon's broken voice hissed from his mouth. A moment later, his body was wracked with agonizing coughs.

Imperialdramon was breathing jaggedly, and the strain was apparent, but he smirked up at the Demon Lord.

"You really shouldn't turn your back on people. It's stupid, you know." The great Dragon Digimon said smugly, grinning weakly through his weariness.

Daemon's eyes widened in ever increasing rage as the Digimon below mocked him. His words were a twisted version of Daemon's own, from much earlier, before the cursed light had weakened him and the strangers…the _Tamers_…had fought him.

_"…I'll…de…stroy…you…"_ Daemon gagged as he spoke, but he slowly brought up his shaking hands, wreathing them in fire for the last time.

Gallantmon, shaken from his astonished stupor, yelled, "Everyone! Attack at the same time! NOW!"

Bringing his shield before him, Gallantmon braced himself.

"SHIELD OF THE JUST!"

The Aegis shield shone brightly as energy coalesced in it. Moments later, as the symbols on the shield blazed, the energy surged forward as a great, red beam. The attack streaked through the air, towards Daemon, who hung in the air like a limp marionette, his quivering hands outstretched.

MegaGargomon stood nearby, the massive launchers in his shoulders smoking.

"Time to end this once and for all!" The combined voices of Henry and Terriermon declared as one. "GARGO MISSILES!"

The two bunny-faced missiles fired, cutting a path through the air. On path to their target, the frowning faces on the front of the missiles smiled as they left plumes of exhaust behind them.

Sakuyamon jumped up into the air, holding her staff at her side.

"A time to live…a time to die," She murmured solemnly as she held her staff before her. "AMETHYST WIND!"

A spiraling stream of wind blew past her, carrying hundreds of razor sharp crystals with it. The crystalline shards glinted like a giant kaleidoscope broken into innumerable pieces as the wind carried them swiftly towards the Demon Lord.

Justimon stood on the ground and willed his cybernetic arm to morph into one of its other forms. The end result was a rectangular hilt, covering the Digimon's lower arm, with an orange blade of energy emitted from the tip.

"Sorry it has to end this way. But you leave us with no other choice. VOLTAGE BLADE!"

Justimon swung the blade from his left shoulder out, like a professional baseball player swinging a bat with all his strength. An orange arc of energy flew from the blade as it was swung, soaring towards the Demon.

Beelzemon leveled his shotguns, sighting down the barrels.

"Unlike Justice Boy over here, I _ain't_ sorry it's endin' dis way! Hasta la vista, baby! DOUBLE IMPACT!"

The two shotguns bucked as they launched their ammo, leaving smoke trailing from the double barrels of each gun.

Daemon's eyes widened as he saw all the attacks flying towards him at high speeds. In his last few seconds, the Demon Lord turned back to face down at Imperialdramon.

The Dragon Digimon dismissed the weapon on his right arm, re-summoning it as a larger cannon in front of him. Imperialdramon grasped it with both hands, and nodded to both Davis and Ken, whom he dwarfed in stature.

Facing back up at Daemon, he said gravely, "Evil always falls when people are willing to unite against it."

He raised the cannon, which had begun to glow at the opening.

"And guess what, Daemon?"

He couldn't charge it any more than it was now.

"YOUR TIME'S UP! _GIGA CRUSHER!"_

The huge bolt of energy that jumped from the mouth of the cannon was bright yellow, burning its way through the air, climbing towards the Demon Lord above.

The attacks from Gallantmon, MegaGargomon, Sakuyamon, Justimon, Beelzemon, and Imperialdramon merged together at the last second. Together, they formed a river of radiant, unadulterated power, and the combined attacks covered the last few feet instantly.

When the attack hit, Odaiba erupted in a towering column of pure, white light. Night turned to day as Tokyo's citizen's shielded their eyes from the island as it disappeared in a sea of brilliant illumination.

**_"…CURSE…YOU…FOOLS! YOU MAY HAVE DEFEATED ME…BUT YOU…WILL…PAY!"_**

Imperialdramon snorted. "Tell it to the jury."

The last thing Daemon felt was burning light.

XxXxX

/Highton View Terrace, Odaiba. 8:57 p.m./

Takato blinked as he stared at the ruins of Odaiba.

"…did we really do it? Did we really beat him?" He asked aloud as the others gathered around.

Davis, holding a snoozing Chibomon in his arms, replied cheerfully, "Yep! I think so! I mean, that was the coolest thing I've ever seen, even next to DemiVeemon eating a whole gallon of ice cream in two and a half minutes. And it takes a lot to top _that._" He confided with a conspiratorial wink.

The entire group, now counting forty Digi-Destined, Tamers, and Digimon total, laughed aloud as the stress of the battle began to dissipate.

Kari smiled, before looking around her. The smile slowly slid off her face as she took in the destruction of their home.

The fires had finally died—probably due to the energy of the final attack—but the city was still in bad shape. Most of the island had been on fire, and Highton View Terrace was now effectively leveled to the ground.

And what about the people?

The Daemon Corps had driven Odaiba's population across the river, and there was no telling how many people had made it…

…or whether the Digi-Destined's family had, either.

The thought sent a jolt of panic and pain through Kari's heart.

Clearing her throat, she said shakily, "Guys? We should…probably try and find our families…"

The rest of the Digi-Destined immediately sobered at the realization.

Tai turned to the Tamers, who were standing in an awkward silence, and said, "I suppose it's kind of rude to run off, but if you guys don't mind, we really need to go and…well…" He trailed off, biting his lip anxiously. Choosing between talking to the newcomers who had pretty much saved their lives and searching for their parents across the river was hard at the moment, and every one of the Digi-Destined was feeling an internal battle as the two impulses clashed.

Kazu, in a rare display of maturity, waved his hand and replied, "Say no more. We understand. Go on, get outta' here." He gestured towards Odaiba's shore and to the neighboring districts on the other side.

Tai and the others nodded their heads in gratitude. After a moment, they turned and began walking towards the Rainbow Bridge.

Except Davis.

"Why don't you guys come with us?" He asked, looking into the faces of each of the Tamers.

The rest of the Digi-Destined stopped and turned back when they heard Davis' question. Several of them nodded their heads and smiled in encouragement.

Henry blinked. "…you sure? I mean, we don't want to get in the way, and this isn't our world…"

"So?" Davis replied dismissively, waving a hand. "I can't say I really understand it all yet, seeing as how we haven't had time for a Q & A session…"

Davis grinned slightly as he continued, "But I do know that we owe you guys. Seriously. And I think that we all want to figure out what's happened. Plus, it'd be cool to know guys like you." Davis' grin widened cheerfully. "What do you say?" He extended a gloved hand as the Tamers contemplated this silently.

After a moment, Takato said, "Well, it's not like we know how to get home at the moment. And we can't just pop in and leave right after all this, so…" Takato looked around at his friends, Tamer and Digimon alike. They all nodded in response, their curiosity and enthusiasm showing openly.

Takato stepped forward and grasped Davis' hand.

"Alright. We're staying. For now, at least."

XxXxX

"...heh. They managed to beat Daemon…"

It was the leader again, in the dark cavern. He stood tapping a finger to his cheek as he peered at the images before him. Beside him, the old man stood thoughtfully, his face creased in a thoughtful expression.

"Do you see now, witch? The fool didn't accept our help when we offered it. He was too full of pride and arrogance to believe he needed it." The second speaker said, his tail twitching behind him. His face showed signs of both satisfaction and disdain, either for Daemon or the woman he spoke to; it was unclear which. Perhaps both.

The woman scowled darkly as she answered, "I knew what you meant before. There's no need to try explaining it to me now, like I'm a child fresh out of the Digi-Egg. And will you _please_ calm that tail of yours? It's making me edgy."

The tail stilled, but the look of smug satisfaction on its owner's face grew. The woman snorted in a very un-ladylike fashion before turning away.

The old man sighed as he turned to the leader, who stood pensively, staring into the mucus pool as images of the Digi-Destined, Tamers, and their Digimon showed them walking through the wreckage of Odaiba.

"Young ones. They're so rash, aren't they?" The old man said, quietly beating out a rhythm against the stones beneath him with a dark staff, which he held in one hand. The red orb on top of the staff glistened slightly with each impact before fading back to its usual state.

The leader, shaken from his meditations, turned to his companion and nodded, again with a trace of amusement. That manner never seemed to disappear from him, the old man thought to himself. It was annoying sometimes, but perhaps it was for the best. If not for his good humor, would he stand for the quarrels that often erupted in their lair?

Probably not. More than one of them would be booted out, and the Council of the Great Demon Lords would soon fall apart. Things were dull, but a fight between the Demon Lords was not a good way to appease one's appetite for action.

"Of course, Barbamon." Their leader replied, stroking his chin as he contemplated the pool. "The young are ever hasty, are they not? If not, then they would seem as dry and dull as you, I think." The leader chuckled at that.

The old man called Barbamon pressed his lips together slightly, but gave no other sign of his irritation. After all, with age came discretion, and Barbamon had that in plenty. Why let a meaningless remark provoke him into action he would later regret?

Perhaps later, when he could stand alone, but not now. Not when the Demon Lords needed each other to keep themselves from acting foolishly. They had waited together for a very long time, excepting Daemon, and he had no intention of breaking their unsteady alliance. After all, there were many other beings in the Dark Area, and a few of them were certainly enough to worry Barbamon outside of the Demon Lords' Council.

And then there was Daemon. He had been called a fool rightly, Barbamon thought to himself. He might have been the strongest of them, but he was a loner. Even during his exile in the Dark Area, which had been forced upon him by the Digi-Destined nearly six months ago, Daemon had refused to come to their meetings, saying that he wished to have nothing to do with a "council of Demon Lords who rule nothing but their own petty realms and the weaklings under them, bloated with apathy…", while Daemon himself grasped for much more…

The woman, turning to the leader, asked, in a touchy tone of voice, "What now? Daemon has fallen, and here we sit, clustered around your 'pet', waiting. And for what do we wait?" The woman gestured with her left arm; the other she kept at her side, hidden in the shadows and the folds of her dress. "To bring the worlds to darkness? Of course. But why must we wait for so long?"

The cavern shook and the demonic eyeball in the basin quivered as a massive tail again shook dust from the ceiling above them.

"That's right. What are we waiting for?"

The crocodilian Demon Lord never spoke much at once, but he preferred to voice his opinions. Loudly.

The leader continued to gaze into the mucus before him, but he answered vaguely, "The opportune moment, of course."

Barbamon tilted his head. His eyes glittered with a deep irritation, but he spoke calmly. Politely. "And when might that be, Lucemon?"

Lucemon smiled, the corners of his lips lifting slightly. The red light cast by the demonic eyeball created hollow shadows under his cheeks, illuminating his face with light the color of crimson blood.

"Very soon, Barbamon. But for now…" Lucemon gestured towards the pool with one hand. "…let us listen in on these young humans. We may learn something of interest."

Lucemon laughed softly as the eyeball rolled in the center of the basin, focusing on its targets. The mucus rippled slightly as the sounds of soft voices began to fill the cavern.

Lucemon's snicker grew louder as the eyeball settled down, staring at the cavern's ceiling above it. The snicker became a chuckle, before it erupted into a full-throated laugh. Five pairs of glittering eyes observed their leader as the mucus before them rippled, the eye below motionless as it peered into another world.

XxXxX

A/N: Wow. What a fight. I'm still amazed I pulled that off. Let me know what you think in a review, and thanks again for reading!

On another note, I know 'Chaos Flare' is Daemon's normal attack in Japan, but I wanted to give him another, stronger attack, so that worked just fine. Raise your hands if you thought Imperialdramon's surprise attack was the coolest 'backfire' you've ever seen. ;) shot for bad pun and ego

And yeah, Beelzemon's a glutton for the Terminator movies.

Again, special thanks to plasmasphere, my Beta. If not for his comments, this chapter would have been a lot lower in quality. I had to go back and rewrite the beginning to make it all fit together properly.

Till the next chapter!


	4. Aftermath

Disclaimer: It's a shame, really, but I don't own Digimon. On the other hand, I doubt anyone who's reading this does, either…

A/N: Well, here's the next chapter. Hope it's worth the wait. Thanks to everybody for reviewing, and I hope you all keep it up! Feedback is good, so long as it's not electronic static…

**Chapter Four: Aftermath**

XxXxX

/Shibaura Warf, Tokyo. Digi-Destined's Universe. Monday, June 21st, 2004. 9:57 p.m./

"What a mess."

The Tamers stood near the northern end of the Rainbow Bridge, away from all the crowds. Most of the streets nearby had been packed, but the noise and the people had started to dwindle over the past half hour or so.

From their position, it was easy to see Odaiba, across the bay. And it was, as Takato so clearly pointed out, a mess.

The fires had all burned out (Henry speculated that the energy of the final attack against Daemon had effectively smothered the flames), but the inferno had left the artificial island scorched and in ruins. Most of the business district's skyscrapers, illuminated by rescue crew and helicopters' spotlights, were sooty black with smoke and ashes. The streets were strewn with rubble, which rescue crews tirelessly moved aside and searched under.

So far, a surprising number of survivors had been found. From their vantage point, near to where the Rainbow Bridge met the Shibaura Wharf, the Tamers had seen a number of ambulances rushing toward nearby hospitals. Listening in on a nearby press conference, they discovered that more than a third of Odaiba's populace had escaped earlier, during the rampage of the now-destroyed Daemon Corps, and that almost a hundred survivors had been pulled from the rubble so far.

Kazu sighed as the group somberly watched another ambulance streaking past, its sirens blaring and lights flashing.

"Those guys did a lot of damage before we got here," the brown haired Tamer said, adjusting his visor with a hand that shook ever so slightly.

Kenta nodded in agreement. His face was slightly pale, and he averted his eyes as a small group of women across the street struggled to get a hold of themselves; most of the women, anywhere from their late teens to middle age, were sobbing helplessly.

"I never realized that…well, that this sort of thing could happen," Kenta said a moment later. His voice quavered a little as he continued, "I mean, we all saw what Vikaralamon did to Shinjuku a couple of years ago, but at least that pig was slow enough for everyone to get out of his way. But this…" He trailed off, and set his glasses a little higher on the bridge of his nose dejectedly.

MarineAngemon, from his floating position over Kenta's shoulder, added, "Bad Digimon!" The miniature Digimon added an angry _humph!_ to add emphasis.

"Yeah, buddy," Kenta answered. Across the street, the small group of women helped each other stagger off down the street, toward a waiting car. The driver, another woman with an equally tear-streaked face, seemed to try to make a show of good cheer for her companions.

It didn't look very convincing, even from across the street.

"Yeah. Those Digimon had no right to do this to anybody. And Daemon didn't have any right to give the order," Kenta continued, shaking his head.

The rest of the group nodded in assent, and they mutely watched as the car full of women drove away slowly. Ai, Mako, and Suzie were the most affected of the Tamers. The three sat together on the ground quietly, their backs against the warehouse the group stood in front of.

After a deep breath, Takato said, trying to evoke some good cheer, "At least it's over now. I mean, we beat Daemon. This shouldn't happen anymore," the Tamer finished, gesturing with a hand.

"But the effects of this will last for years," Renamon replied. The fox-like Digimon was sitting on the roof of a small car, with her hands clasped across one knee; Rika stood next to her partner's resting place, her arms crossed across her chest. Renamon's face was expressionless, but something in her tone and blue eyes suggested a sorrowful air about the vixen.

The group considered this morosely before sighing as one. From his position near his two Tamers, Impmon scuffed his feet on the sidewalk gloomily.

After a few moments of silence, broken only by sirens and the dwindling crowd's voices closer to the Rainbow Bridge, Kazu said, "Man. I hope the Digi-Destined hurry up."

After receiving sharp glares from the other Tamers, he added quickly, "I mean, I can't stand waiting around here not knowing if the rest of their families are okay."

Henry shook his head pensively. "It's so weird, getting pulled into this world. All of a sudden we find out that ours isn't the only 'Real' World, and the one we end up in is, at least so far, identical to the anime series back home." Spreading his hands in a shrug, he added, "How bizarre is that?"

Takato nodded emphatically. "Yeah, really. I mean, it's strange enough by itself, but with all this…" Takato began gesturing towards the battle-torn Odaiba, but dropped his hands a moment later, dejectedly. "…after watching the show for years, it sort of feels like I know all the people and places in it. This version of Odaiba, the Digi-Destined and their partners…and even a lot of their families."

"Man, I haven't even thought about the show for…I don't know, two years, maybe," Kazu said. "Sure, I went and bought the cards and saw some of the show's posters and merchandise, but I haven't given it much thought." With a humorless chuckle, he added, "And here we are now. We fought right alongside the heroes of the Digital World, the Digi-Destined themselves, against the one enemy they never managed to destroy. And, on top of all that, we managed to beat him, too."

Kenta, fidgeting with his glasses, said, "If it weren't for our own adventures and partners, I'd say we all belonged in the psych ward."

"Some of us probably still do, you know," Terriermon said cheekily, albeit without his usual high-spirited humor.

Henry sighed. "Terriermon, now isn't a good time for jokes."

"I know that. It just felt like it needed to be said." Terriermon mimicked his partner's sigh. "But I'll stop."

"Thank you," Henry replied. Next to him, Jeri gazed across the bay with a glazed expression.

Noticing this, Henry turned and asked, "You okay?"

"Hmm?" Shaking herself, Jeri replied, "I'm fine. It's just…" Jeri shrugged helplessly. "So strange. But it's real. And the pain is real, too…"

Rika nodded shortly. "I can't imagine that we're surrounded by fictional people and events," the redhead said solemnly. "It all feels too…well, real. Like Jeri said…"

"Hmm." Jeri murmured in mute agreement.

Takato sighed. _'So much damage done here. Renamon's right. The damage done here is going to last for years. And Jeri and Rika are right, too. It's all real. As real as back home, as strange as that seems at first glance…'_

Beside him, Guilmon stood upright, listening to the sirens blaring off into the distance. There were fewer vehicles moving across the Rainbow Bridge now.

The group fell silent, each person lost in his own thoughts and concerns. Most stood restlessly, tapping their fingers against their arms or their feet against the sidewalk's cement. The rest, including the younger Tamers, sat against the warehouse's wall, biting their lips and glancing around anxiously. The Digimon held many of the same positions, next to their partners.

After a few minutes of silence, Guilmon's ears perked up, and the Digimon sniffed the air inquisitively.

"Hmm? What's up, boy?" Takato asked, turning to his partner.

Guilmon pointed up the street with a claw, and replied cheerfully, "The Digi-Destined are coming back!"

"They are?" Henry inquired, turning to face the direction Guilmon was pointing.

Sure enough, a group of twelve humans, mostly teenagers, were walking towards them from several blocks down the street. The Tamers and their partners could just make out a number of small Digimon being carried with them.

Jeri bit her lip worriedly. "I wonder if they found the rest of their families," the girl said, her concern evident on her face.

Rika, in a rare display of open emotion, set her hand on the girl's shoulder in a gesture of support. The two shared a glance and a nod before facing towards the Digi-Destined.

The group sat on pins and needles the entire time it took for the Digi-Destined to reach their block. It felt much longer than it probably was in reality, but even a minute was nearly unbearable.

When the approaching humans were close enough to be seen clearly, the entire group let out a relieved sigh, though their worry didn't ebb completely.

The Digi-Destined's faces appeared cheerful enough, and Davis waved a hand high in the air in greeting. In his other hand, Chibomon bounced up and down happily, his little face turned up in a grin.

Renamon slid off the roof of the car smoothly, saying, "It appears as though nothing incredibly bad has happened…"

"That's one way to put it, I guess," Henry replied as he and Takato raised their own hands in greeting. Ahead of them, Davis broke into a jog, carrying his diminutive partner in both arms.

Kazu stretched his arms above his head before he turned with a slight grin and motioned to the rest of the Tamers. A moment later, the brown-haired teen set off towards the Digi-Destined at a brisk walk. With the prospect of easing their restlessness, the rest quickly followed.

When they were close enough to be heard clearly, Davis called out, "Hey, guys!"

The Shinjuku group raised their hands in wordless greeting. As the two groups converged, Kazu started off tentatively, "So…uh, how'd it go?"

Davis grinned. "Not too bad, considering everything that happened."

Tai added, as he stopped beside the younger gogglehead, "Our families got across the bay just fine, either on the ferries or across the bridge. They're a bit shook up, but other than that, they're fine." The teen gestured back the way they had come. "They all managed to get together soon after they got here."

Matt continued, "Guess they figured we'd be fighting, so they all gathered together near one of the emergency shelters that started getting set up after the people made their way across."

Takato gave a relieved sigh. "Well, that's good. We were starting to get worried there."

The Tamers' group nodded in agreement, and the Digi-Destined grinned slightly in appreciation.

Cody, after a few moments of silence, spoke up. "So, tell us. Where exactly are all of you from?"

"Uh…" Takato started. _'Right to the point, huh? Well, let's see if it makes more sense out loud than it does in my head.'_

Clearing his throat, Takato continued, "Well, we're from Shinjuku."

After a moment, the Tamer added awkwardly, "Uh, technically."

"Shinjuku? That's not too far from here," Izzy said. "It's just a district away."

Henry scratched the back of his head. "You could say that…"

Terriermon chimed in and added, "On the other hand, maybe you couldn't. Our Shinjuku seems _much_ farther away than that…"

"Huh?" Izzy said as he inclined his head. "No, I'm sure the Shinjuku district is adjacent to the Minato district. And that's where we are now, at the Shibaura Warf, so what do you mean…?" The red-haired teen's face cleared as he asked, "It has something to do with that pillar of pink light, doesn't it? The one that appeared before you guys appeared in all that fog."

"Probably. We're not exactly clear on the details ourselves, but…" Henry shook his head. "We're just about one hundred percent positive that this isn't our world."

Izzy processed this information silently before nodding his head. "You said that before, didn't you? Well, that makes sense."

Jeri blinked. "It does?"

"It does?"

This question was echoed by the rest of the Digi-Destined. Most of them held their heads tilted, their faces hiding none of their curiosity or confusion.

Izzy, seeing this, turned halfway so he could face both his friends and the Tamers' group. "Actually, it does. First off, if they aren't from a nearby Shinjuku, then they're from another version of Shinjuku. Probably in some other Tokyo, on some other Earth. Am I right?" he asked, turning his head to face the Tamers.

"Pretty much, yeah," Kazu answered. He looked like he was about to say more, but Rika shook her head. Kazu, getting the hint (for probably the first time in his life, at least from Rika), closed his mouth.

Interrupting people is rude, especially when they're smarter than you are.

Izzy nodded again as he continued, "Secondly, your Digivices are a model we've never seen before. They're not the original Digivices, and they're not the D-3s that everyone else has these days."

"They're called D-Arcs," Kenta said helpfully. The Tamer held out his own gray-ringed D-Arc to show the others.

The Digi-Destined clustered around to see. Davis gave a low whistle as he looked at the unusual Digivice. "Man, I wish I had one of those."

"D-Arcs, huh?" Ken said. "Makes sense, considering the shape."

Izzy, straightening from his scrutinization, continued, "Yes, yes. Well, as I was saying, this Digivice model only leads to the conclusion that you are a different generation or an entirely different kind of Digi-Destined than the rest of us. However, a new generation of Digi-Destined would have been noticed here."

Tai rubbed his chin. "I guess you're right, Izzy. If there was something important enough to bring a new kind of Digi-Destined into the mix—and I'm not talking about other people in the world simply getting partners, it's not the same—then we would have found out somehow."

Izzy nodded in agreement. "A threat that great would not have been missed."

After clearing his throat, the red-haired genius continued, "Finally, the battle with Daemon. You guys used a form of Digivolution we're completely unfamiliar with. Now, obviously, I wouldn't say that that alone would be enough evidence to start saying you're from another world, but it was really obvious during the battle that the four of you—"

"Dat's five, bub!"

Izzy inclined his head at Impmon. "Yes, five. My apologies, Impmon. Anyway, it was obvious that each of you has had extensive experience in battle. From the way you fought, there's no way that you could have gained that level of power without fighting something that the rest of us would have noticed. It's the same as before, with the Digivices. We would have been alerted, somehow, even if it had been entirely in the Digital World. We have friends there who would have alerted us."

"So, the only viable explanation is that you really are from another world. Another version of the Real World…" Ken said slowly, thinking it over carefully. From what Izzy said, it really _was_ the only explanation that made sense.

Henry nodded. "That sounds about right. Nice reasoning, Izzy."

"Why, thank you, Henry. It's nice when my logic is appreciated," Izzy replied, a smile tugging at his mouth.

"Aw, come on Izzy! Where would be without your brains?" Tai said, with a tone of exaggerated hurt. The taller Digi-Destined reached out and grabbed his shorter friend, giving him a playful noogie on the head.

"That's right! We appreciate you!" Matt added as he joined in mischievously.

"Agh! It's hard to tell!"

The rest of the group laughed aloud. It was a good tension breaker, after everything that had happened earlier that night.

When the laughter had died down, and Izzy had been released from the clutches of his friends, Mimi said, "I'm still a little confused about this 'alternate Earth' idea." Tanemon, who sat in Mimi's arms, added, "Same here! Things get confusing enough with just the Real World and the Digital World!"

T.K. replied, "I think I get it. We've already assumed before that there are more than a few worlds. We have the Real World—"

"And I am really beginning to doubt the validity of that title," Izzy interrupted as he smoothed his hair back down. "Too many worlds really _are_ real for us to claim that ours is the _Real_ World. Take the Digital World, for instance. We know that everything there is real, not just a bunch of data behaving like a video game. To label our own world as the _true_ world sounds sort of arrogant and ignorant, to me."

"Be that as it may, Izzy, things would start getting even more strange if we decided to come up with another name for Earth. At least, our version of it," Ken said, as he frowned thoughtfully.

T.K. cleared his throat pointedly. "As I was saying, we have the Real World, the Digital World, the Dark Ocean, and we also have that strange dimension we visited when we fought MaloMyotismon." The blond-haired teen shrugged. "I guess it shouldn't be too surprising to found out there are other worlds as well."

"The weird thing about this," Sora chimed in, "is that you Tamers are from another version of _Earth_. That's what really throws things out of whack."

"Not necessarily, Sora," Izzy replied. Turning to the Tamers, he asked, "Would I be right in assuming that you have your own version of the Digital World as well? One that we Digi-Destined have never visited?"

Takato nodded. "Yeah. It's really different from your Digital World, though. Sometimes, that place doesn't make any sense…"

Izzy cocked his head and frowned slightly in puzzlement, but continued on, "Well, if different versions of the Digital World can exist, as is evidenced by your Digimon and Digivices, then I don't see a reason that different forms of Earth can't exist as well."

Mimi's face cleared. "Oh. Now I get it."

Davis' face creased slightly. "Well, that's good, because I'm still working on it."

"…anyway," Tai began with a thoughtful expression, "you guys seem to know a lot about us and what we've gone through before, and that makes me kind of curious." At the Tamer's questioning looks, the Digi-Destined with a jungle of brown hair continued, "Well, for one, you haven't asked us any questions about ourselves. Not even our names. Most of you just sort of nodded when we introduced ourselves, like you knew them all already."

At this, several of the Tamers exchanged glances. It had to come out sometime…

"And for another thing, you also seemed to recognize Daemon when you first heard about him."

Matt nodded. "That's right. And you also knew that we sealed him in the Dark Ocean, and hardly anyone outside our group knew that. Same with MaloMyotismon, apparently, and what you mentioned about our Digital World."

"I guess," Joe added, "it just seems like you know more than you've told us so far. The fact that we're from different universes is what makes it strange."

"Ah…" Takato began awkwardly. "…yeah. I mean, we do know all that stuff." The brown-haired Tamer looked back at his group before continuing, "I don't really know how to explain this, but…uh…Henry? You want to try?"

Henry blinked. "Thanks for putting me on the spot, Takato." Turning to the Digi-Destined, Henry started, with a trace of discomfort, "Well, to tell you guys the truth…" Taking a breath, he went on, "…in our universe, Digimon is…well, a franchise."

Davis was the first to ask for clarification. "Huh?"

Grimacing, Henry continued, "We were first introduced to Digimon by the anime series on TV."

"Wow! That's cool! Digimon is a TV show? Awesome!" Davis exclaimed, pumping his fist. After a moment, he asked, with a grin on his face, "What was the show about?"

"You guys," Rika broke in, her face expressionless. Truth be told, she was getting sort of tired of dancing around the issue. Takato and Henry looked at the red-haired Tamer, faintly amused at her impatience.

"…pardon?" Kari asked, her face displaying obvious confusion. The rest of the Digi-Destined and their Digimon appeared the same way. A moment later, both Izzy and Ken's faces cleared, but the confusion was replaced by near-shock.

"What Rika means," Takato said, "is that the anime series followed the adventures of the Digi-Destined, you guys, from the time you first went to the Digital World and landed on File Island until the final battle with MaloMyotismon." There was no point in bringing up the supposed epilogue from twenty-five years into the future, yet. Takato had no clue how revealing that sort of information could affect how things would turn out from this point onward, or if it would at all, and he didn't want to make things more complicated than they already were.

As Takato thought this, the meaning finally sunk into the Digi-Destined's group.

_"WHAT?"_

Ten humans and twelve Digimon gaped at the Tamers with their mouths hanging open. The exceptions were Izzy and Ken, who had both realized the point moments before, but they were just as surprised.

Izzy was the first to break the silence. "Well, that's unexpected."

Terriermon, predictably, quipped, "So is falling out of the sky just in time to kick some demon booty."

"Terriermon…"

Ken said slowly, "I suppose we shouldn't be too surprised, should we? I mean, if different versions of Earth exist, maybe there's a possibility that events in one world affect those in another."

Leafmon, from his position in Ken's arms, asked, "You mean our adventures somehow ended up as a TV show in another universe?"

"That does sound feasible," Izzy replied. The red-haired Digi-Destined frowned as he thought. "Maybe events in one world somehow seep through the barriers into other worlds. I mean, things in the Digital World are a prime example. Many of the Digimon there have forms that are based off of human legends, history, and dreams."

"Don't forget nightmares," Salamon added from Kari's arms. The small Digimon shuddered as she continued, "Myotismon and Daemon were monsters from human legends, too."

"Nightmares, too," Izzy amended. "Anyway, if people can travel from one world to another, whether it's from the Real World to the Digital World or from one version of Earth to another, then I guess it's possible for actual events to somehow make their way into those worlds, as well. Perhaps as data, or more dreams."

The large group pondered this as they stood in the roadway. A light breeze was coming from the bay. There was a faint taste of salt water to it, but the smell of smoke and ashes was stronger.

Impmon stirred, his impatience getting the better of him. "Okay, so we got past dat part. Now can we find out how we got here in the foist place?"

"Same here, guys," Kazu said, running his hand through his hair. "That's the part that confuses me most. I mean, next to actually winding up in a universe where the Digi-Destined are real people and all. No offense intended…"

A moment past. Then, Kazu blinked. His eyes slowly widened as his face lost all other expression. Dazedly, the Tamer pinched himself on the arm. After wincing at the pain, Kazu took a step forward. Reaching out, Kazu slowly brought his hand up to Davis' chest. After holding a finger there for a long second, the Tamer poked Davis in the chest twice.

"Uh…" Davis started, blinking. Perhaps he feared for Kazu's sanity, because the gogglehead slowly backed up, staring at Kazu's wide eyes uneasily.

"…I…am standing…in the presence…of the Digi…Destined…" Kazu said slowly, never blinking.

"Kazu? Are you feeling okay?" Kenta asked, staring at his friend in befuddlement.

Renamon, from her position next to Rika, said calmly, "The shock is wearing off."

Rika suppressed a groan. "Great. That means…"

"I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! YOU GUYS ARE MY HEROES! I CAN'T BELIEVE I'M STANDING HERE WITH THE DIGI-DESTINED, IN THE FLESH! OH, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE LET ME HAVE YOUR AUTOGRAPH, TAI! AND YOU, TOO, DAVIS! CAN I HAVE YOUR GOGGLES? PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE…?"

"…'Fanatic Fan-Boy' takes the stage." Taking decisive action, Rika stepped forward and slapped Kazu upside the head. The brown-haired Tamer rubbed the back of his head in irritation before his face took on a sheepish expression. The other Tamers shook their heads in exasperation as the Digi-Destined blinked bemusedly.

"…must have been a really good show," Bukamon said. Joe rolled his eyes. Even when he didn't try, his partner always seemed to make a bad joke out of everything.

Sounds familiar, doesn't it?

"Moving on," Rika prompted as she glared at Kazu.

Henry started. "Oh. Yeah, let's try and stay on topic…"

Clearing his throat, Izzy replied, "Well, before all of you appeared, we were fighting Daemon. And losing, unfortunately," the red-head added with a frown.

"Not to mention the Daemon Corps," Yolei added. "They showed up with Daemon and started flooding the city while we were occupied with that demon jerk."

Kazu, apparently over his alter ego and surge of fanatic awe, asked hesitantly, "You guys didn't have Omnimon or Imperialdramon Paladin Mode to help?"

"Unfortunately, no," Ken answered. "So far, WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon have only DNA-Digivolved inside the Internet, and we don't even know how Paladin Mode came about, beyond the fact that Omnimon was obviously involved. And it all happened too fast for us to try anything else…"

Kazu, ignoring the blue-haired teen as he trailed off, turned to Kenta and yelled triumphantly, "HA! I told you those movies were in continuity!"

Henry slapped a hand to his face in exasperation as Rika repeated her earlier action, adding another lump to the back of Kazu's head. Kenta settled for looking distinctly uncomfortable with his friend's antics.

"…so, to put it simply, we had to make due with three Megas and a number of Ultimates," T.K. continued, attempting to ignore the byplay. "Normally, that'd be enough for just about anything, but obviously, Daemon isn't—well, _wasn't_, your typical bad guy."

"You're telling me," Takato said. "I'm going to have bruises for a week, and I'm definitely going to wake up sore tomorrow." The brown-haired Tamer rubbed a shoulder absentmindedly as he finished.

"…and the next thing you know, this huge pillar of pink light erupts out of nowhere, and you all appear in that cloud of fog," Mimi finished, while Tanemon nodded agreement.

Henry frowned in thought. "That still doesn't explain how we got here, though. I mean, the only warning we had was our Digivices going off like an alarm clock. Not to mention the flashing red light."

"Can't forget the call for help," Ryo added as the teen crossed his arms across the orange sweater he wore.

"Right. That, too." Henry acknowledged.

"Pardon?" Sora asked, her head tilted.

Ryo elaborated, "Along with the lights and beeps, we sort of got a message as well. It sounded like someone asking for help. It might have been a girl…" he trailed off thoughtfully.

"We don't want to hear any of your fantasies, Ryo," Rika remarked scathingly. "This whole deal is weird enough without them."

"I won't dignify that with a response."

"Good."

Ryo shrugged, an amused half-grin on his face. Behind his faceplate, Cyberdramon rolled his eyes. Yes, these conversations even get to Cyberdramon. Go figure.

Yolei looked at the pair questioningly before asking, "Are those two always like this?"

Kazu nodded. "Rika tends to be jealous of Ryo's skills as a Tamer—trust me, you ought to see Cyberdramon on a bad day, he's a real piece of work…" Said Digimon growled threateningly, flexing his claws and four wings. Kazu swallowed nervously before finishing, "…and I think Ryo enjoys getting a rise out of her. It's real easy, honestly …"

Rika examined her nails casually. "Tell me, Kazu, how many hits to the head do you think it would take to silence a jerk permanently, in a very humiliating fashion?"

"…I don't think I'll dignify that with a response."

Yolei raised an eyebrow as she pointed at Rika and Kazu. "Same question."

"Same answer," Terriermon replied from his place on Henry's shoulder. "Pretty much, yeah."

Takato scratched the back of his head awkwardly as the Odaiba group stared in varying degrees of amusement, confusion, and, in Davis' case, the makings of mischief.

Kari, noticing this last case, said, "Davis, whatever you're thinking about saying, don't. It's not likely to end well."

"But…" The gogglehead trailed off at the look on Rika's face. Clearing his throat, the Digi-Destined said, in an obvious attempt to cover up his near-lapse into a very foolish remark, said, "Alright, back on topic. You got a call for help through the Digivices, and it sounded like a girl. Right?"

"Right so far," Jeri replied.

T.K. tapped his chin thoughtfully before saying, "A cry for help, huh? And a girl…" Turning his head, the blond continued, "That sounds like Kari."

Kari turned to her friend with a questioning expression on her face.

"You don't remember yelling 'somebody help us'?"

Kari shook her head, puzzled. "I don't remember much of what happened, I guess. The last thing I recall from before I woke up earlier was Daemon coming closer to me. And a bright, pink light, I think."

"Hmm…" Izzy murmured. "In the past, it has been evident that Kari's Crest of Light has some unusual powers not found in the other crests, or anywhere else for that matter. This might have been another manifestation of the crest's power."

Ken nodded. "I think I see what you mean, Izzy. When Kari yelled out, her crest must have somehow opened a gateway from our world to the Tamers' world, and drawn them through."

"That makes sense," Izzy replied. "In fact, I'm almost sure of it now. The crests have always had special powers, and they've often reacted when we needed them most. This could be another example, although the repercussions of this are likely to be greater than anything else so far. I mean, linking together two different versions of Earth?" The red-head spread his arms, as though to take in the entire world. "Can you imagine how that would affect things everywhere? It's like finding another Digital World. But, to be honest, I think we can actually say that too, because there is apparently another Digital World variant connected to the Tamers' world, as we've already established."

"This is making my head itch," Davis said as he scratched his head, demonstrating his point rather clearly. "Let's get to the part where we figure out what to do next."

"Good point, Davis," Tai said, frowning slightly. "Daemon and his army have been destroyed, and there's little we can do at this point, so what happens now?"

Both groups silently pondered this issue for several moments. At last, Ken said, "It might be a good idea to find out how to get you all back home." At the questioning glances he received, the blue-haired teen elaborated, "We don't know exactly how you got here. It might be something similar to a Digital Gate, but we have no way of knowing if it will stay open indefinitely or close without warning, leaving you all trapped on this side."

The Tamers shifted uneasily at this prospect. The idea of being stuck in another world was not very appealing, even if they would have the Odaiba group for company.

Izzy spoke up. "I would think that there's a way back, somehow. There always has been in the past. Granted, this is a new situation, but I get the feeling that the same rules we've always followed should apply here as well."

"You mean, opening Gates with our Digivices?" Cody asked, holding out his yellow D-3.

Izzy nodded. "Precisely. I'd be willing to bet that the Digivices are the ticket back. And who knows?" the red-head continued, "We might be able to open similar gateways at will, now. Whose to say that this trip isn't the first of many? If a pathway has been opened, then chances are it'll be used again."

"Coming back and visiting sounds like fun," Jeri mused.

"You bet! The chance to visit the Digi-Destined themselves in their own world is one sweet deal," Kazu agreed, a grin on his face.

The Odaiba group looked rather sheepish at the excessive praise Kazu managed to put into his tone, but they seemed pleased that they had found such friendly fans.

A moment passed before Henry said thoughtfully, "You know, if the passageway we went through to get here, that big tunnel of mist, is like a Digital Gate, I wonder if Yamaki and Hypnos managed to pick up some sort of signal from it?"

"Hmm…" Takato pondered. "Might be. If they did, they're probably trying to figure out what it was right now."

XxXxX

/Hypnos Control Room, Tokyo Metropolitan Building, Shinjuku. Tamers' Universe. 10:15 p.m../

Yamaki frowned, somewhat aggravated. Riley and he were standing on a raised platform above the lower level of Hypnos control room at the moment; Riley was busy tapping away at one of the consoles, scanning over the data readouts from earlier that night.

Yamaki, however, was hardly even thinking about the strange anomalies that had appeared earlier that night. He was also ignoring the nagging worry about the missing Tamers. Instead, he had his attention focused on the lower levels.

Turning, the blond-haired man, still wearing his sunglasses in the dim lighting of the control room, asked, "Riley?"

"Hmm?" The woman replied absentmindedly. The data figures in front of her were streaming across the screen at a rapid pace; she didn't spare her companion much thought at present.

Yamaki continued, "Do you remember last week when I asked you to get all the vents in this section bolted shut?"

"Yes…" Riley replied, somewhat curious now. She turned her head from the glowing screen and looked at Yamaki, her head tilted slightly.

"Did you get it taken care of?"

Riley nodded. "Yes. I had one of the maintenance workers go through Hypnos' ventilation system. He said he sealed up the whole thing, per your orders. He wanted to know why, but I couldn't tell him. Probably because I didn't know myself…"  
Yamaki ignored her. Instead, he turned back to the lower level. "…then how does he keep getting in here?" the man asked, his tone an amusing mix of exasperation and puzzlement. At least, it was amusing to an outside observer. Yamaki himself probably wasn't that amused.

Riley, a thin eyebrow raised, turned to look down over the platform's railing, her left arm draped over the back of her chair. She watched as the technicians below moved about among the computers littering the ground level, scurrying like ants across the dimly reflective tile floor.

Actually, not everyone was moving around. One of Hypnos' employees was standing in the middle of the floor, talking down to a little, white figure with big ears…

It was pretty obvious that said figure was of the Digital variety.

"…who, Calumon?" Riley asked, turning to her employer; of course, he wasn't just an employer outside of Hypnos, but that was neither here nor there…

"No, I mean the technician Calumon's talking to."

Riley shrugged, although a wry half-smile touched her lips. "Well, he's probably employed, isn't he? I think he works with the computers downstairs."

"…I'm not appreciating your sarcasm at the moment, Riley."

"Then let's both say what we mean, shall we?"

"Not this again…" Yamaki groaned, putting a hand to his face, slightly jostling his sunglasses.

Riley shrugged dismissively. "Fine. We won't bring up the finer points of our relationship in the work place. Happy?"

"No."

"Too bad. You can make your own breakfast tomorrow. Anyway, about Calumon." Riley simply shrugged. "Maybe he uses the front door like everyone else. I think I'm starting to understand why you wanted the vents sealed up, though…"

"Riley, he's barely a foot tall! He can't even reach the door handles!"

"Maybe someone lets him in."

"Well, maybe you need to find out who."

"Yamaki, I'm busy. This analysis is taking forever, even with everyone working on it. You want me to go around asking our workers if they've been letting a cute little Digimon into one of the government's agencies on a regular basis?"

"This _is_ the third time in the past two weeks."

"Is he bothering you?"

"It's more the fact that he's getting in here, really. If Calumon, the most naïve, playful little creature the world has ever seen can find his way to the control room here, then what about people we _really_ want to keep out? Like the press?" Yamaki replied, somewhat more exasperated than he'd been a few moments ago.

Riley turned back to her console. "I doubt a reporter will fit through the vents."

"That's my point. The vents are sealed up, so he can't get in that way. That means—"

"Yes, yes, he's getting in some other way. Why don't you go ask him yourself?" Riley stated, her tone taking on exasperated tones of its own. "Who better to ask? And besides, you're really the only who cares at the moment. The rest of us are kind of busy."

Yamaki glared at Riley through his sunglasses for several moments before turning and walking towards the stairs, somewhat irritably. Riley watched him go out of the corner of her eye before grinning slightly.

"Sometimes it's worth it to see that expression on his face…"

I doubt Yamaki agrees.

XxXxX

/Shibaura Warf, Tokyo. Digi-Destined's Universe. 10:25 p.m./

"Okay, so we think we ought to stand in a circle with our Digivices out?"

Izzy nodded in response to Kenta's question. "Without a focal point, like a computer or an actual gateway, a circle makes the most sense if we're trying to open a path. If I'm right, the energy from the D-Arcs will have the most effect if they're all an equal distance from the center. Rather ingenious little devices, these D-Arcs…I'd love a chance to take a closer look at this card-slashing ability you showed us…"

"It's pretty complicated," Henry replied. "My dad looked it over, and he was impressed by the software, which is saying a lot. Shibumi knows the most about it and he's still lost in some places."

"Well, regardless, I think we're ready to give it a shot. No guarantee anything will happen, of course, but there's no knowing until we try."

"Right." Henry ran a hand through his hair, scrutinizing his D-Arc in the other. "It's too bad we have to leave so soon. Still, I guess it's better to be safe than sorry, and our situation definitely qualifies."

Izzy nodded. "The sooner you all get back, the better. Maybe this Hypnos organization you told us about will be able to pin down the details of what's happened. In the meantime, I'm going to have to have a talk with Gennai. And maybe Azulongmon, too, if I can get in touch with him."

Henry chuckled. "You know, I never did understand how Gennai ended up looking so young in that second season…"

"My guess is that when Gennai copied himself into different forms, his age somehow got spread out with the rest of his knowledge and personality," Izzy replied. "It's just a guess, though. His counterparts really didn't go into detail when we met them, and Gennai himself still doesn't, but I suppose it doesn't matter much at the moment."

"Agreed."

"I hate to break up the Brainiac Club," Rika interrupted, "but if we're going to get going, let's not stand around talking. It's late, and I'd really prefer not to stay up all night."

"Bit of a spitfire, isn't she?" Davis said in an undertone to Takato, who nodded and laughed a little. The two goggleheads quieted once Rika fixed them with an icy glare.

Shaking his head in amusement, Henry motioned to the rest of the Tamers and their Digimon. "Okay, guys, let's wrap things up here."

With regretful sighs from both sides, the Odaiba and Shinjuku groups began exchanging their farewells. Temporary farewells, hopefully.

"It's been great meeting you guys…"

"Same here, Matt. Man, I can still hardly believe it, though…"

"…and we'll definitely have to see if we can get together again like this…"

"Without a demon breathing down our backs, hopefully…"

"Keep an eye on your friends, Takato. No leader's worth his weight in spit if he can't hold everyone together."

"Gee, thanks, Tai…I'm honored you're measuring me by saliva…"

After a few minutes, the talking died down, and the two groups separated, facing each other from a few feet away. Takato, taking his place at the head of his group, spoke for them all. "Thanks for your hospitality, everyone. Apart from the fight, I'd say this is the most fun I've had in a long while." Various nods from both sides backed up this claim.

"Hey, don't sweat it," Davis replied with a grin. "Remember, we owe you guys big time for pulling us out of the fire like you did. You're all welcome to drop in anytime, assuming you can."

"I hope so," Takato agreed, with Guilmon nodding beside him.

After a few more moments passed, Joe said, "Well, go on and try it. You're not getting any closer to bed and showers standing here."

The thought of such comfort after the battle with Daemon was probably the best incentive to leave. With a last look at the Digi-Destined and their partners, the Shinjuku group milled about, eventually forming an even circle. Together, each of the Tamers took out their D-Arcs, each rimmed with their own respective colors, and held them out towards the center.

Both groups stood motionless, watching intently. Each of the D-Arcs' screens were pointed towards the center of the circle, but nothing was happening yet.

Several moments passed, and the D-Arcs remained inactive. Kazu frowned while Rika tapped her fingers against her thigh impatiently.

Heaving a sigh, Henry said, "Well, I guess this isn't going to—"

He cut off as his green-rimmed D-Arc flashed shortly. Takato's followed a moment later, while Rika's joined suit after that. One by one, each of the Tamers' Digivices began to flash white, with an electronic hum in the background.

Grinning, Takato turned over his shoulder and called to the watching Digi-Destined, "I guess we're heading out! We'll see you guys some other time!"

The Odaiba group raised their hands (or whatever passed for hands among the Digimon), and waved their final good-byes. A moment later, the hands shielded their owners' eyes from an intense white light. The Shinjuku group was washed out in brightness, with even their profiles lost in the brilliance of the light.

Moments later, the light disappeared, leaving a nearly empty street behind. There was no trace of the Tamers or their partners; the Digi-Destined themselves stood blinking before they could see this clearly. When their vision had cleared at last, they each looked on with slight smiles, pleased that their new friends had, apparently, made their way back home.

Mimi sighed. "I hope they get back alright."

"I'd say there's a good chance of that, Mimi," Ken replied, as Leafmon yawned in his arms.

The rest of the group nodded in agreement, and they stood there for a little while longer, staring at the spot where the Tamers had disappeared from.

Predictably, it was Davis and Chibomon who broke the mood.

"Well, who's up for a late night snack?"

XxXxX

/Hypnos Control Room, Tokyo Metropolitan Building, Shinjuku. The Tamers' Universe. 10:35 p.m./

"…so, let's go over this again."

"Okay…"

"No sneaking through the vents. They're closed up now, anyway."

"Alright…"

"No jumping through an open window into my office. Though I honestly don't see how you get up so high in the first place. It's nearly twenty stories above the ground."

"Uh-huh…"

"No attempting to bribe the employees with creampuffs to bring you inside. Most of the people here are on diets, anyway, and you don't help them by doing that."

"Okay…"

"And what's the last one?"

"…don't play hide-and-seek inside the big computers?"

"…close enough." Yamaki sighed, shaking his head. On bended knee, Calumon was still rather short, but it had felt awkward talking down to the diminutive Digimon. Somewhere in the back of Yamaki's head, a quiet voice told him that, once, he wouldn't have had a problem with that. In fact, he would have preferred a commanding presence to the comfort of such a being as Calumon.

_'It's been a long time since those days,'_ Yamaki thought to himself, looking at the faintly puzzled Calumon. _'And I'm better off as I am now. So there's no point in remembering.'_

"So, we're clear on this, now?"

Calumon nodded, though he didn't look extremely happy. "I can't come in when everybody's working, and everybody's always working. So I can't come in."

"Right," confirmed Hypnos' supervisor. "You're better off sticking with the Tamers and their partners if you want to play."

Calumon's ears shrank as his face took on a mournful look. "But I can't find them, so I can't play with them now!"

Yamaki sighed. "Yes, I know. We're looking for them, but at the moment you'll have to make do somewhere else. Maybe go and sleep the night away…" Yamaki certainly wished _he_ could go home and sleep.

"But the night's still young!"

Yamaki looked at the Digimon expressionlessly through his sunglasses. "You've been hanging out with Impmon again, I see…"

Before either of the two could continue, alarms began to blare, while red lights started flashing along the wall. Standing as quickly as he could, Yamaki began to make his way through the sudden rush of technicians and security personnel, eventually reaching the base of Riley and Tally's station in the middle of the room.

"What is it now?" he called, taking his lighter from his pocket. It was a purely reflexive action, and Yamaki barely noticed as he began to flip the lid back and forth.

"It's another rip in the Real World's barriers!" Riley replied as her fingers blurred across her colored console. Her and Tally's seats, mounted on the two large, metallic arms jutting from the floor, both swiveled back and forth above Yamaki, their servos whirring audibly.

Riley continued, "It's larger than the others, and…Yamaki, the signal's based right here in this room!"

_"WHAT?"_

This was bad. Of all the information that had been processed so far, the only useful information that had been revealed was that the rips in the barriers were closely similar to Digital Gates, but led to somewhere other than the Digital World itself. From the data echoes, it almost looked as though the gateways connected to somewhere in the Real World, but it was hard to tell for sure. For all of Hypnos' equipment and staff, the number crunching had taken a long time, with very little revealed in just the few hours they'd had since earlier that night.

Bringing his mind back to the present, Yamaki yelled, "I want this section put under lockdown! Start getting everyone out, and make sure all our files are transferred to the data storage sites on the Net—!"

The air around Yamaki erupted with thick, silver fog. The man recoiled with a yell, clutching his lighter in a fist. As soon as he recovered from the shock, Yamaki peered through the fog, straining to catch a glimpse of any movement. The technicians behind him were pressed up against the walls, slowly edging their way toward the doors.

_'It might be a Digital Field,'_ he thought to himself. _'Well, let's see what jumps out of it…'_

"I think we made it, guys…"

Yamaki straightened in surprise, before saying, "Takato?"

"Oh, hey, Yamaki! Where are you?"

Definitely Takato, and probably the rest of the Tamers with him. That might explain the size of the anomaly; it would probably have been big enough for the entire group and their partners… "To your right, I think," Yamaki answered, peering off to his left. Sure enough, the fog was starting to clear, and he could see the vague outlines of a number of figures a little ways off.

Then, Takato himself stepped forward, with Guilmon at his side. The rest of the Tamers quickly followed, and the fog neatly dissipated moments later.

From behind Yamaki, Calumon ran towards the group on his little feet. "Yay, you're back! Now we can play games!" The little Digimon neatly leapt onto Guilmon's head; his slight weight didn't do much except cover the dinosaur's vision. "Who's up for a game of capture the flag? I'll be the flag!"

As Guilmon stumbled around blindly with Calumon on his face, Yamaki heaved a sigh and called back up to Riley and Tally, "Take us off lockdown alert, Riley." Turning back to the Tamers, he said, "I think you kids have a lot of explaining to do."

XxXxX

/Council Room of the Great Demon Lords, the Dark Area. 10:35 p.m./

"Most enlightening," Barbamon said, stroking his whiskery chin. Beside him, Lucemon Chaos Mode nodded, his eyes fixed on the pool of mucus.

At the center of the basin's pool, the great demonic eye heaved as though with a sigh before closing its single eyelid. The images above it faded, along with the voices of the Digi-Destined in the Real World. Or, _one_ of the 'Real Worlds', anyway…

"Hm. He's all tuckered out. Poor thing."

Lilithmon pursed her lips in distaste. Yes, she could understand the desire for pets…she herself had many, after all, being who she was. Still, Lucemon's apparent attachment to their scrying tool was beginning to wear on her.

_'One day, I won't have to deal with all of this. Lucemon, and all these fools around me. One day…'_ Such thoughts were dangerous when you could be picked off by stronger beings.

Together, the Great Demon Lords stood nearly invincible. Few beings could stand against them when they stood together…but standing together wasn't all it was cracked up to be for these Demon Lords.

Lilithmon suppressed a groan. How she longed for the sweet silence of her castle, away from these babbling fools. Daemon had had it right; strong enough to move by himself, accepting counsel from none but himself, holding the greatest power among them…

…of course, Daemon was gone now. Defeated by the Digi-Destined and these new Tamers. So, working with the others here might truly be her only option at the moment.

Still, one could hope.

Next to her, Beelzemon, another Great Demon Lord (A/N: not to be confused with Impmon's Mega), contemplated the pool silently, though a slight snarl twisted his lips. His own thoughts were plain: destroy the meddlers.

Of course, Beelzemon was always the rash one…

"Let's go after them."

The fool had yet to surprise Lilithmon.

Barbamon glanced over at the leather-clad Demon Lord before shaking his head. "That would not be a good idea. We need to think these things through, first."

Beelzemon growled. "I've already thought it through. There are more worlds than we thought, and these Tamers are from another version of the Real World. Big whoop. Let's just go and trash the Digi-Destined now, while they're weak, and we'll take care of the Tamers if they come again…"

Lucemon was shaking his head. "I agree with Barbamon. Now is not the time. This discovery puts things in a different light." Lucemon did like to use that accursed word: light. Even his name was based off of 'light'…

"Like what?" Leviamon asked shortly, his huge tail resting beside the massive Demon Lord's pool of water. "I think Beelzemon's got the right idea." Those two usually agreed on matters; neither seemed to want to think things through. They were usually in favor of 'action, now'.

"The simple fact that this opens up a whole number of other worlds to us," Lucemon replied. "We had planned to eventually control the Digital World and the Real World before claiming the rest of the Dark Area from certain…other individuals…but this would allow us to control even more territory. Not to mention the number of slaves. Just think of the possibilities…"

"What good does that do us if we can't reach those other worlds? Unless you've got a handbook for crossing barriers into unknown worlds lying around somewhere," Beelzemon replied scathingly. Good manners were hard to find in this room.

Barbamon stirred from his thoughtful posture before answering, "You're very slow, Beelzemon." Before Beelzemon could _really_ take offense and launch himself into a killing frenzy, the old Digimon continued, "Do you recall the last time the barriers between worlds were weakened?"

Beelzemon thought for a few moments before replying gruffly, "A couple of months ago. When that BlackWarGreymon started destroying Destiny Stones…"

Barbamon nodded. "Exactly. All we have to do is continue in the same vein. Weaken the barriers between worlds, and we will surely be able to make our way into such worlds as these Tamers' Earth…"

The old Demon Lord smiled maliciously. "Actually, we might even be able to kill two birds with one stone, at the same time…"

Lucemon mimicked Barbamon's cruel smile perfectly. "Divide and conquer."

"Naturally. If Daemon couldn't defeat all of these humans and their partners together…" Barbamon trailed off.

Beelzemon took up the line, savage satisfaction darkening his face. "…then we'll take them on separately."

"Exactly. And we may have to call on a number of possible nuisances before they become an issue, as well…"

XxXxX

A/N: Well, Act One is drawing to a close, and the real meat of the story is just ahead. Hope you can all stick with me that long, because I'm having a blast with this.

Don't forget to RR! And that's 'Read and Review', not 'Rest and Relaxation', however attractive that latter concept might be…


	5. The Next Step

Disclaimer:

A spotlight flares to life and illuminates a stage otherwise wrapped in darkness. After a moment, Takato Matsuki walks into the light, holding a small note card in one hand. Reading aloud, Takato says, "The author of this fic, Nolaquen, has decided to make the disclaimers a little more interesting, as repeating the same thing over and over by rote is boring and repetitive. So, he's using the characters of this fic," Takato looks up with a grin. "That means me, today—to give the disclaimers for him."

Tucking the note card into a pocket, Takato says, in an authoritative tone, "Nolaquen265 makes no claims that he owns the Digimon franchise, or is profiting from writing this fan-fiction financially. End of story. Bye-bye. See you later."

After a moment, Takato adds, "Nor does he own the references to, or quotes from, any other work of fiction that may pop up in the story…or disclaimers."

Someone offstage says, in a muffled tone of voice, _"Cough, Shrek, cough…"_

_And just for that, Ryo gets to make the disclaimer next time. And he's not getting off as easily as Takato. _Nolaquen chuckles malevolently from the front row.

"Aw, man…"

A/N: Yes, the disclaimer has a new look.

Other than that, there's not much to say, except thanks, yet again, to Plasmasphere for beta-ing my story, and my reviewers for, well…reviewing. Thanks, everybody! Keep it up!

**Chapter Five: The Next Step**

XxXxX

/Hypnos Conference Room, Tokyo Metropolitan Building, Shinjuku. The Tamers' Universe. Monday, June 21st, 2004. 11:25 p.m./

"…so, to sum things up, you were all transported to another version of Earth, met a bunch of anime characters and their Digimon partners, and fought and subsequently destroyed an extremely powerful Digimon intent on taking over all the worlds in his reach?" Yamaki said, surveying the tired group before him. Yamaki himself held a cup of steaming coffee in his left hand, so he wasn't feeling quite as wiped out as the Tamers. Raging hormones or not, there was only so much action these teenagers could take before they dropped.

Takato himself looked as though he were ready to slump over onto the marble conference table; chances were, if he did, he'd be asleep before his head hit the tabletop.

Yawning widely, the gogglehead replied sleepily, "That's about it, yeah." Beside him, Guilmon and Calumon snored quietly on the carpeted floor next to the conference table.

Yamaki frowned in thought as Riley looked over her notes. The Tamers' story had been intriguing, and Riley had quickly decided to keep track of the events the Tamers related. Plus, having notes would help make sure later on that the story had been kept straight; there was no telling what fatigue and mental exhaustion could do to the finer details.

Dimensional travel and a massive battle certainly seemed to have taken its toll on the Tamers and most of their partners. The only ones not ready to keel over were the Digimon who hadn't been directly involved in the fight with Daemon; Guardromon and MarineAngemon. On the other hand, Renamon looked rather alert, despite her ruffled fur.

The rest of the Tamers were slumped over in the comfortable chairs around the table. Ai, Mako, and Suzie were already asleep.

Shaking his head, Yamaki swished the dark liquid in his Styrofoam cup around, staring past the steam. It was almost unbelievable, really. Taking the sunglasses off his face, the man asked, "I think I can accept the existence of another Earth. When you've been studying the Digital World and Digimon as long as I have, not a lot really surprises you." Yamaki frowned as he continued, "But what about these Digi-Destined? Are they exactly like the characters in the anime show?" He had glanced over the show's two seasons several years ago, reasoning that clues about the Digimon the Monster Makers had created might be leaked through the script and dialogue of the show itself. It had, in fact, been a rather worthwhile use of his time, if he passed over the plotline and hyped-up kids' drama. Information regarding a large number of Digimon and other related matters had turned out to be rather accurate, which had helped Hypnos gain a foothold in Digital matters.

Shaking his head, Yamaki added, "And how is that possible? The Monster Makers created Digimon in this world, and the TV show was based off their research."

Stifling a yawn, Henry replied thickly, "I'm not exactly sure. Izzy thought—man, that still sounds weird to me—that maybe some sort of data is passed between worlds." Scratching his head, he continued, "I guess there's some sort of connection between all the worlds. That mist tunnel, for example. We got to the other Odaiba that way, so it might act a little like the Data Streams in our own Digital World."

"You mean the beams of light that picked up several of you and flung you to the far corners of the Digital World when you went there looking for Calumon several years ago?" Riley asked.

Henry nodded, dislodging a snoozing Terriermon from his shoulder. "Right before we found out about the D-Reaper, yeah."

Yamaki tapped a finger against his chin thoughtfully while Terriermon straightened from his face-plant on the marble tabletop, grumbling and rubbing his face tenderly.

"So there's a connection. That still doesn't explain it all."

"I think I see what you mean," Henry said, getting more into the conversation, despite his fatigue. "Dad and the rest of the Monster Makers created Digimon in this world about twenty years ago, and the TV series is based on those Digimon. Still, there wasn't much to base an entire show and franchise off of, in that respect. The Digimon were intelligent, but they were little pixilated figures flashing on the screen. Not much of a story there." Stretching his arms above his head, the teen continued, "Maybe data from the Digi-Destined's world somehow got into the imaginations of the show's designers, somehow. Maybe as dreams," he finished speculatively.

Yamaki frowned. "There's still a time discrepancy. Here, the show finished, what, three years ago?"

"Around about that, yeah," Takato answered, his cheek propped up against a fist on the tabletop. The gogglehead's eyelids were drooping, but Takato seemed aware enough of the conversation to keep up.

"But, in the Digi-Destined's world, it's only been six months since they fought…MaloMyotismon, was it?"

Kazu and Kenta both nodded in the affirmative, although they quickly became nods of dozing. Henry continued in the vein. "Basically. So, if we assume that time moves at the same pace in both worlds, our TV show ended with events that hadn't even happened yet in the Digi-Destined's universe. But, as far as we could tell from our conversations and observations, it all happened the exact same way."

Riley chimed in, "In that case, I see two possibilities. One, time doesn't move at the same pace in both places—"

"Which we've already refuted," Yamaki interrupted. "The Tamers' watches, which they claim were accurate before they left, show the same time as the clocks here do right now."

"—or two, interactions between worlds are more complex and intricate than we know." Riley finished, nodding.

Jeri blinked. "Does that mean there's a possibility that the TV show might have somehow affected how things happened in the Digi-Destined's world? That the show's writers somehow forced events to turn out like they did?"

Riley shrugged a shoulder. "Who knows? I'm not sure if there's any was to prove it, honestly."

"And it doesn't really matter at the moment, either," Yamaki added. "The fact of the matter is, we're connected to another version of the Real World. One that most people here think is fictional: a child's television show. What are the ramifications?"

"I guess it depends on how we interact with the other world," Henry said after a moment of thought. "I mean, if both our worlds have the same history, does that mean that there might be two different versions of one person living in each world? Think of the chaos…"

Takato, ever the dreamer with an impulsive imagination, attempted to do so. This is the scene he came up with:

_"Hi, Takato! Nice to meet 'ya!"_

_"Likewise, Takato!" Both Takatos shake hands while two Guilmon sniff each other curiously. Then, by mutual consent, the two Digimon begin to ravage a bag full of fresh-baked bread._

_'Ah, that wouldn't be too bad…besides the grocery bill, anyway,'_ Takato thought. But, as is destined, the gogglehead's infamous overactive imagination struck.

_"Oh, boy. Here comes Rika."_

_"She's coming from that direction, too…"_

_"…they both look kind of ticked."_

_Both Takatos stare at each other before throwing up their hands and run away screaming._

The real Takato sweatdropped. _'I have enough difficulty understanding ONE Rika. I can't imagine what would happen with two. I guess that's sort of what Henry means by 'chaos'.'_ A moment later, the teenager shook his head violently, thinking, _'Man, I've really got to get a handle on my imagination. It's going to get me in trouble some day.'_

A round of applause for Takato, ladies and gentlemen; the most naïve, clueless kid you'll ever meet. And I mean that in the best way possible.

The others in the conference room were utterly oblivious to Takato's wayward train of thought, which was probably a good thing. One can only take so much insanity in one day, after all.

Yamaki turned to Riley and asked, "What have you got on those spatial rifts that caught the Tamers and their partners?"

"We went through all the data," she replied, "and the best we've figured it is that the rifts were nearly identical to the kind you would find between the Real World and the Digital World. The difference is, they connect two material worlds which are almost exactly the same. That explains a lot of the sensor echoes we were getting."

"What about the differences between several of the rifts that you noticed when they first appeared?"

"You mean the larger one, and the one that kept shifting position? Well, Ai, Suzie, Mako, Lopmon, and Impmon were all together in the park, which would explain why that rift was bigger; it had to be in order to take them all at the same time. As for the shifting one…" The woman turned to Ryo and Cyberdramon before asking, "You said you two were in the Digital World at the time, correct?"

"Yes, ma'am," Ryo replied, managing to sound both casual and respectful at the same time, added to his apparent tiredness. Cyberdramon merely growled an affirmative before settling back against the wall.

Riley nodded. "That confirms my theory. The rift that bounced around was actually located in the Digital World, which was why our sensors couldn't get a solid lock on it. That's the rift that picked up Ryo and Cyberdramon."

"So, we have all that figured out. Now what?" Yamaki asked before taking a sip of coffee. Ah, the wonders of caffeine…

"We get the Tamers home to bed," Riley answered firmly. Yamaki winced before nodding. Sometimes, Riley could become rather motherly towards the Tamers, despite the fact that they were all but employees of Hypnos. Taking care of wild Digimon bio-emerging around Tokyo didn't seem to keep Riley from thinking that the Tamers needed to be looked after at times.

Clearing his throat to get the attention of the slumbering humans and some of their partners, Yamaki said, "Alright, we'll have some of our people drop you off at your homes. Sleep-in tomorrow, just for good measure. It sounds like you earned it."

The Tamers blinked blurrily as they mumbled thanks and forced themselves to their feet, awakening the younger ones who were slumbering in their chairs.

Five minutes later, several black Hypnos vans departed from the underground garage, carrying the Tamers and the Digimon to their respective homes. Yamaki, from the control room, watched the security cameras capture their exit. Turning to Riley, he observed, "You can be rather protective of the Tamers, sometimes."

Riley half-smiled before she replied, "Well, I have to be ready for when I have my own children, don't I?"

"I guess so," Yamaki nodded, before turning back to the screens. Riley watched him silently for a moment before rolling her eyes and walking towards the exit, coat in hand.

Several moments later, Yamaki's head snapped up as Riley's comment penetrated his conscious mind.

_'She can't be…no, she was just ribbing me…wasn't she?'_

When Yamaki followed Riley out with a carefully blank face, his lighter lid was flicking back and forth faster than ever before.

XxXxX

/The Digi-Destined's Digital World, Eastern Hemisphere. Friday, June 25th, 2004. 1:16 p.m./

Azulongmon was in a rather good mood. How could he not be? No evil Digimon had attempted to take over the Digital World in the past several months, the Eastern Hemisphere was blooming (thanks to Azulongmon's excellent care, of course), the rest of the Guardians were taking care of their own quadrants quite well, and Azulongmon himself was about to have a late lunch near Digi-China Town. A little bit of egg-drop soup from the Chinese Soup Spring would go over quite nicely…

The Great Dragon Digimon flew over the land, his four eyes glancing over the landmarks. Yes, there was that stony hill, the one where the Gotsumon lived…and there was the lake past that. That meant that the bamboo thickets were nearby.

_'It won't be long now,'_ Azulongmon thought to himself. He could already taste that wonderful soup in his mouth. Just a few more minutes of flying, and…

The massive Dragon stopped in mid-flight, his eyes widening. There was something nearby. Something dark…and strong.

_'Right before lunch, too,'_ he thought to himself regretfully. Blinking, he shook his great head. _'No time to be thinking about that now. I have to investigate this.'_

The Guardian Beast took flight again, heading for the bamboo thicket. That was where the presence felt strongest.

_'What would a Dark Digimon be doing near Digi-China Town?'_ Azulongmon wondered. _'There's always Digitamamon's oriental restaurant and soup, but I doubt most Dark Digimon would want a meal there, if there was rampaging to do elsewhere…'_

The Dragon's four eyes widened in shock. _'Soup…Soup Spring…THE DESTINY STONE!'_

Azulongmon put on a fresh burst of speed, spawning a whirlwind around him in his haste. If the last Destiny Stone was damaged, or even destroyed, the Digital World's balance would be disrupted…

…and, if Gennai's information on these 'Digimon Tamers' who had appeared in the Real World three days ago was accurate, then it was likely that the barriers between even more worlds than they knew of would weaken, or even collapse entirely. Azulongmon couldn't allow that to happen.

After all, if he did, he'd never get to eat lunch.

Several moments passed before the Guardian Beast could clearly see the Chinese Soup Springs. As he neared it, Azulongmon stretched out with his senses, searching for the dark presence even as his eyes roved over the round, smooth Destiny Stone floating above the spring.

The Stone itself seemed undamaged, but there was a feeling of wrongness about it, like something was missing, or in danger of being wiped from existence. His brow furrowed, Azulongmon came ever nearer, searching…

_BAM!_

Azulongmon yelled in shock as a beam of deep purple light slammed into his side. Reeling in the air, the massive Dragon twisted around, trying simultaneously to orient himself and spot his foe.

_BLAM! BLAM!_

Azulongmon's nerves screamed in distress as hot bullets penetrated his skin, charring his translucent muscle. A moment later, another blast of purple energy collided with his side, momentarily blurring his vision as his brain frantically tried to sift through the conflicting signals in his nervous system.

_'Not one…two!'_ With this thought, Azulongmon finally managed to orient himself, looking down at the clearing below him through squinting eyes.

In front of the floating Destiny Stone stood two figures. One was wrapped in long robes, had flowing white hair nearly to the ground, and carried a long, black staff with a red orb at the top. The other was clothed in dark leather, and currently had two guns leveled right at Azulongmon's head.

Azulongmon gaped in recognition and anxiety. "You…!"

"Yes. Us," Barbamon replied calmly, casually tapping out a rhythm against the soft ground with his staff. Next to him, Beelzemon smirked widely, revealing pointy incisors. Beelzemon had a _very_ bloodthirsty grin, Azulongmon thought to himself in some remote corner of his otherwise occupied mind.

Azulongmon faced two Demon Lords, both of whom nearly matched his strength in battle (as embarrassing as that was for a Guardian Beast), with the last remaining Destiny Stone hovering in the background. Plus, the Great Dragon could already feel minute streams of data dribbling from his wounded side. All in all, a bad situation.

There were only two words that could possibly convey the immense peril of the situation.

"Aw, nuts…"

XxXxX

/Community Park, Tamachi, Tokyo. Digi-Destined's Universe. 1:21 p.m./

"Well, from what you've told me, the whole situation is definitely unusual," Gennai said from Izzy's laptop. "The idea of other Real Worlds and Digital Worlds is a concept that even I have never considered." The young man then became silent, contemplating the recent turn of events.

Gennai's face was smooth and lineless on the screen; a stark contrast to his earlier form from several years ago. His voice was different, too; younger, with a touch more energy. Still, it continued to hold the timeless wisdom and patience of the old Gennai.

At the moment, the entire Digi-Destined crew was gathered in a park near Ken's apartment. After watching the news and seeing Odaiba's ruins picked apart piece by piece by rescue and reconstruction crews, it had been decided that they all needed a day off. Things were starting to slow down in the park, until Gennai had contacted them to discuss the happenings from three days ago.

Izzy nodded in agreement while the rest of the group pondered this silently. The Digimon were back up to Rookie level (with Gatomon being the exception at the Champion level), and they all sat with their partners around the bench Izzy's laptop rested on.

Shaking his head, Cody said, "It's still hard to believe that an entire world could have so much information about our past. All of our adventures in the Digital World, for example. Not to mention the personal things that would have to come up in that kind of scenario," he added after a moment, his brow furrowed slightly.

"That is kind of awkward, isn't it?" Mimi agreed, shuddering.

"Kind of like someone followed us everywhere with a video camera, recording everything we did," Davis added, staring up at the sky thoughtfully. Next to him, Veemon nodded, though the motion was rather awkward. The Rookie didn't really understand why it was so awkward.

"I don't really understand. Why is it so awkward?"

_…you know, Digimon who repeat the author so blatantly are liable to end up frying in fish oil._

"Sorry."

_Now you're breaking the fourth wall. Stop it._

"Okay."

_...moving on…_

Magically ignorant of the…previous dialogue…Davis turned to his partner and replied, "Well, Veemon, imagine you're in the bathtub."

"…okay…" Veemon said, screwing up his eyes in concentration.

"Now imagine you're singing. Like you always do when you're in the bathtub. Something like 'Born to Be Wild'."

"…got it…"

Speaking over the group's snickering, Davis continued, "Now imagine that everyone here is listening to you. Singing. Off-key, because your pitch is way off. Plus, you can't hold a tune to save your life."

"I resent that...oh. I think I get it now," Veemon replied sheepishly, scratching behind his head awkwardly.

"Yeah. That's basically what it feels like," Davis finished, clasping his hands behind his head.

Shaking his head in amusement, Tai continued, "Basically, we have no clue what all is in the show. It could be anything, honestly."

Matt picked up the vein. "From our first battle with Kuwagamon—"

"They'd probably have that, seeing as it was one of the first things that happened to us in the Digital World," Izzy interjected.

"—to that meal we had before climbing Infinity Mountain—"

"We were talking about eggs and ketchup, right?" T.K. asked, grinning. Kari gave a very un-ladylike snort before covering her mouth sheepishly, glancing around in embarrassment.

"—to Gomamon getting thrown over the walls of the hot tub," Matt trailed off, half-smiling wistfully.

"I remember that…" Biyomon said slowly, fixing said Digimon with a beady-eyed glare. Gomamon settled for ignoring the glares from multiple girls in the group, opting instead to whistle under his breath.

"And that was just within the first few days of our adventure, too," Joe continued, perhaps for the sake of his partner's safety. "That was over four years ago. And a lot's happened since then."

Ken frowned, distinctly uncomfortable. "So, an entire world could see what we've done in the past…what we did…"

"It's likely that most of the major bases are covered," Gennai said, a bit of concern and sympathy showing in his voice. Then, in a comforting tone, he continued, "But that's no reason to worry about the past. What's done is done. Mistakes have been made, lessons have been learned, and you're the better for it. All of you," he added, looking at each person in turn. With a small grin, he said, "And, if it makes you feel any better, only a small number of people who watch the show know it's real, after all. And, from your descriptions, they seem to be a good group of kids, so I doubt they think badly of any of you."

Ken considered this before nodding shortly. He had already put his past as the Digimon Emperor behind him, after all. He wouldn't let it be dragged up again into the present, for any reason.

Feeling better, the blue-haired teen said, "Well, I think we've talked this topic to death. If the Tamers made it back to their own world, then chances are we'll see them again. Stuff like this only seems to happen before an adventure of some sort, so we'll wait for it. Until then, I say we focus on the present." By the time Ken finished, the rest of the group was nodding.

"Good point, Ken," Gennai said, smiling. "Yes. In the meantime, besides the obvious exception of Odaiba, there isn't much happening. Things are peaceful in the Digital World, and I expect it will stay that way for a while…"

Gennai trailed off as he glanced off-screen, frowning in concentration. A moment later, he turned back, his face grim. "Looks like I jinxed us. There's a disturbance here in the Digital World, somewhere in the Eastern Region. I'll have my sources check it out, but—"

Gennai's image on Izzy's laptop flickered as static penetrated the signal. The red-haired Digi-Destined frowned in concern as he sat forward to adjust the signal. On the now-flickering screen, Gennai shook his head.

"I'm about to lose the signal on my end. Something is interfering with the transmission—" The screen whited out before reappearing briefly. "—on your guard. I don't know what's happening, but I'll try to get to the bottom of it—"

The frame showing Gennai's face turned black, while several icons beside it showed that the signal had been lost. Izzy frowned thoughtfully as he started pulling up different frames on the screen. Several were maps of the Digital World, while others showed various graphs and tables with fluctuating lines of different colors; all of which meant absolutely nothing to the rest of the Digi-Destined and their partners.

Apparently, though, they meant a lot to Izzy.

"Great," the red-head genius muttered. Turning, he addressed the rest of the group. "I'm not exactly sure what's happening, but it looks like this disturbance is playing havoc with the sensor network Gennai gave me access to. As far as I can tell, time-space in the Digital World is fluctuating, like a bowl of Jell-o on top of…uh…" He trailed off, trying to think of an appropriate comparison.

"A Sukamon doing the Irish Jig?" Tentomon prompted helpfully.

"Uh…yeah…" Shaking his head bemusedly, Izzy continued, "Weird similes aside, it looks like we're seeing a possible breakdown of the barriers between the Digital World and the Real World."

"It's always something, isn't it?" Sora sighed.

"What could be causing it?" Hawkmon asked, looking over Izzy's shoulder at the laptop.

"I'm still not sure. From the readings, it looks like the phenomenon is centered in this sector, though," Izzy replied, pointing out a white square on a grid-covered map of the Digital World.

The rest of the group leaned in to peer at the region.

"That looks like the area around Digi-China Town," Patamon commented from his position on T.K.'s head.

"I think Patamon's right," Ken said, looking at the map intently. "And if this disturbance _is_ centered there…"

Kari drew a quick breath. "Then the Destiny Stone might be involved!"

Izzy nodded in concern. "That would definitely explain why this is happening. The Destiny Stone is one of the forces that helps keep the worlds balanced. If it's been damaged or destroyed, then there's no telling what might happen."

Davis pumped his fist. "In that case, we've got to go there and check things out!"

"I agree with Davis," Tai said, nodding.

Cody frowned. "If we jump in head first, we'll be in a bad position. We have no solid idea about what's going on, beyond the fact that there's danger. We don't know _why_ this is happening, or who might be causing it. We need to find a way to get more information before we do anything."

Davis sighed explosively, but he nodded in understanding. "Any ideas, Izzy?"

"Working on it," Izzy replied, tapping a finger to his chin thoughtfully. The red-head looked up at the sky absently, thinking hard. A moment later, his eyes widened as he pointed up quickly.

"I think we're about to get thrown into this anyway! There's a Gate opening up there!"

As one, the Odaiba group looked up into the sky, even as the Digimon instinctively braced themselves. There was no telling what might come through a Gate.

Sure enough, a Digital Gate was forming about a hundred feet above the ground. The Gate itself was a disc of blue light, with electricity jumping erratically around the edges. As the group on the ground watched, the Gate widened to twenty, then thirty, then forty feet across, eliciting yells and screams from elsewhere in the park. After the Daemon Corps attack on Odaiba, most of Tokyo's populace, human and Digimon alike, was wary of naturally forming Gates. Especially big ones in the sky.

Now the weather was changing. A sudden gale of wind ripped through the park, carrying stray leaves and twigs through the air at a rapid pace. Above, the clouds began to roil and darken, while thunder rumbled from some distance away.

"I don't like this!" Wormmon said worriedly from Ken's shoulder. The insectoid Digimon was holding on tightly, his little body buffeted by the wind.

"Me neither!" Armadillomon agreed as he dug himself partly into the ground to protect himself from the gale.

Several heartbeats later, the Digi-Destined and their partners gasped as a massive head came through the glowing Gate, quickly followed by a long, sinuous body.

"Azulongmon!" T.K. shouted, holding his white fisherman's hat down with one hand. The rest of the group started to grin at the sight of the Guardian Beast, but their grins quickly turned to gasps and looks of shock when the Great Dragon Digimon made it entirely through the Gate, which closed behind the Dragon quickly.

Azulongmon, Guardian of the Eastern Hemisphere of the Digital World, was slowly being deleted.

Starting at the tail, Azulongmon's body was losing particles of data, which loosened and began to float freely into the air, creating a thin, hazy cloud of blue material around the massive Digimon. From the ground, it was obvious that Azulongmon had been hit hard with some damaging attacks; the Dragon's side, normally a translucent, watery blue, was covered in cracks, small holes, and large burns. One of the Guardian's four eyes was swollen shut, and the facemask around it was cracked.

In short, Azulongmon was going to digital pieces, and the Digi-Destined were frozen in shock.

After a wracking cough, Azulongmon said weakly, "Digi-Destined, we haven't much time. Dark forces are moving, the strongest in my long memory."

"What forces?" Tai asked after a moment. He was shaken by the state the Guardian Beast was in, but there wasn't much any of them could do without information.

After another cough, which shook more loose digital particles from his body, Azulongmon replied, "The Great Demon Lords are moving."

"Great Demon Lords?" Izzy asked. "Wasn't Daemon a Great Demon Lord?"

"Yes," Azulongmon answered, nodding his great head. "Daemon was the strongest, but there are six others who now seem to have set a plan in motion." The Great Dragon was taking deep, shuddering breaths, and the Digi-Destined trembled at both his injuries and his words.

"What are they doing?" Gatomon asked, flexing her claws unconsciously.

"Two of them—Beelzemon and Barbamon—are near the Destiny Stone. I believe they mean to destroy it. I fought them, but they overwhelmed me. Rather embarrassing, really." The Guardian Beast added, sheepishly, despite his grave injuries. "I used the last of my strength to open a Gate to the Real World, in order to find you." After a shaky breath, he continued, "I believe the other four are fighting the other Guardian Beasts as well. I sensed them from afar, once they entered battle. I don't think there's much we—you, can do for them at this point."

_"WHAT?"_ The group shouted, their minds numb in disbelief. The four Guardian Beasts of the Digital World, beaten down by associates of Daemon, the enemy who had nearly defeated the Digi-Destined themselves days before? It was unthinkable that something like this could happen, and so soon after Odaiba's ruin…

At their shocked looks, Azulongmon said quickly, "Don't worry about us too much. We will be reborn in Primary Village eventually, and we will be able to take on our previous positions as Guardians without too much trouble. Assuming, of course, that the Demon Lords are out of the picture, and the Digital World is still in one piece…"

Steeling himself, Davis planted a foot forward and raised a clenched fist to shoulder height, saying, "And don't _you _worry! We'll take care of the Demon Lords, and make sure everything works out just fine!"

Azulongmon chuckled sadly. "So willing to take on the world, and the powers of darkness themselves." More data flecks were dissipating from his body; it was only a matter of time before the Great Dragon Digimon ceased to exist. Above, dark storm clouds roiled as the winds churned them.

After a moment, Azulongmon said, "Yes, you must face them. But you cannot do it as you are." At the group's questioning looks, Azulongmon continued, "You were barely able to defeat Daemon by himself. Admittedly, Daemon was by far the strongest, but you will be facing six Demon Lords, now." Observing the Odaiba group's worried and even ashamed looks, he added, "Don't think on it. You came out of that situation in one piece, with a little help, and I'll do my best to help you here as well."

A moment later, the twelve blue Digi-Cores circling Azulongmon's four legs froze in the air, before slowly descending to the ground. As the orbs neared, the Digi-Destined's Digivices began to react.

The Digi-Destined dazedly pulled out the devices, blinking against the bright light emitted from the screens. The Digivices were beeping loudly, as well, creating a cacophony of noise. Some of the more sensitive Digimon's ears twitched at the noise, but they held still as the Digi-Cores neared.

Azulongmon said over the noise, "This is the only way I can help you. My strength is nearly spent, but my Digi-Cores will boost yours. Hopefully, they will give you the power you need to resist the Great Demon Lords."

All at once, the Digi-Cores shot forward, merging with the Digivices in an instant. The area erupted with blazing white light, and even Azulongmon was forced to turn his head away, blinded by the extraordinary radiance.

When the light finally faded, the older Digi-Destined gasped.

Their old Digivices had changed shape, into the familiar D-3 model. The handgrips on the sides of the Digivices reflected the color of their old Crests; deep orange, azure blue, rosy red, lively green, deep purple, and steely gray for Tai, Matt, Sora, Mimi, Izzy, and Joe respectively. The screen of each Digivice was shining brightly, illuminating their owners' faces with white light. Finally, the white bodies of the Digivices had been replaced by a light, metallic gray. It felt smoother and cooler than the older plastic had felt, and they seemed to be heavier, as well.

Aside from the new body, the Digivices of the younger Digi-Destined hadn't changed outwardly, but they too shone radiantly. Screwing up their eyes against the light, each of the Digi-Destined and their partners gazed at their Digivices in awe. Each of them now contained a full Digi-Core from a Guardian Beast…

Their attention was broken by Azulongmon's rattling breath. The Odaiba group looked up, their faces set in expressions of sadness and fear. The Guardian Beast was being deleted even faster now; most of his lower body was gone, leaving little more than Azulongmon's head and front legs floating in the air.

"There is one last thing I can do for you," the Guardian said. The Great Dragon gestured towards the ground with one his front legs; a moment later, a small Gateway appeared, about ten feet from the Digi-Destined.

"That will take you close to the Destiny Stone. There were only two Demon Lords there when I left, but they are strong enough that you must be wary…"

Behind the ever rising cloud of digital particles, Azulongmon nodded to the Gate. "The Gate will only last a few moments after I am gone. Go now, and protect the Destiny Stone as best you can." Azulongmon trailed off, his eyes closed. Only his head remained above; the rest of him had dissipated. "Good luck, Digi-Destined…"

Struggling against tears, Kari yelled up, with a catch in her throat, "We'll do our best, and we'll make sure you can be reborn safely!" The rest of the group quickly chorused their agreements, and Azulongmon smiled gently as he finally dissolved into small particles, which quickly faded from sight.

The Digi-Destined stood silently, gazing up with troubled eyes; many glistened with unshed tears.

"…I don't believe it," Yolei murmured quietly, staring at the sky. Ken put a comforting hand on her shoulder as he bit his lip. Beside them, Sora and Biyomon hung their heads dejectedly, wiping little tear tracks from their cheeks.

After a moment, Davis stepped forward, gesturing to the shrinking Gateway before them, saying thickly, "Come on! We can't do anything if we're not in the Digital World!" The gogglehead's voice cracked, but he paid it no heed.

Veemon bounded forward with his partner, and together, they jumped through the Gate. Seconds later, the rest of the group followed, grasping their modified D-3s, their faces set with determination.

If they had their way, it would be a dark day for the Great Demon Lords.

Unfortunately, the Demon Lords had been planning for just such an event for three days…

XxXxX

/The Digi-Destined's Digital World, Eastern Hemisphere. 1:32 p.m./

Davis and Veemon ungracefully tripped upon exiting the Gate, and promptly face-planted against the ground. When the rest of the Digi-Destined and their partners appeared, they tripped over the prone bodies of Davis and Veemon, resulting in one big dogpile.

"Why do we always end up at the bottom?" groaned Davis as the group above him grumbled and slowly made their way to their feet.

"You might as well ask why all this stuff happens so fast," Matt replied gruffly.

"Yeah, really," Gabumon added. "I was enjoying our break…"

"Regardless," Ken said as he brushed off his knees, "we have a job to do now."

Palmon, from her position next to Mimi, nodded before gesturing into the bamboo thicket. "I think the Destiny Stone is that way," the plant-like Digimon said.

Agumon sniffed the air before saying, "Definitely. I can smell the Soup Springs from here."

The rest of the Odaiba crew nodded and began to make their way through the thicket, alert to any movement. In the next few moments, each of them noticed the dark skies above them, and the faint rumbling noise coming from the nearby hills.

"From the looks of things, the Destiny Stone's already been damaged," Yolei commented anxiously once they reached the clearing. The pink-haired girl peered through her glasses worriedly as they stopped about forty feet away from the Destiny Stone.

The last Destiny Stone floated above the Chinese Soup Spring; a large fissure ran jaggedly down its front, and there was a web of fine cracks across the rest of it. The Stone's golden ring, inscribed with Digi-Code, had large pieces missing, leaving it as fragile looking as an antique porcelain vase. The very air seemed to tingle and crackle as waves of invisible, data-warping energy flowed out of the fractured Stone.

"A magnificent sight, is it not?"

The dry, amused voice shook the Odaiba crew from its anxious stupor. Wheeling around, scanning the area, Tai yelled, "Who's out there?" The gogglehead clutched his new orange D-3 tightly as his eyes roamed over the scene.

Two sets of resounding chuckles answered before a pair of Digimon stepped into view from the far side of the clearing. The first, who looked like an old man with long robes and a staff, replied sagely, "I am Barbamon. And this is my associate Beelzemon," he gestured to the other Digimon. Beelzemon smirked widely, though it looked more like a bloodthirsty snarl to the Digi-Destined.

"Beelzemon?" Davis asked, frowning. The rest of the group eyed the two Demon Lords warily, while the Digimon stationed themselves in front of their partners, ready for battle. Eleven Rookies and a Champion didn't seem to impress the Demon Lords much, though.

Barbamon's mouth quirked up in a half-smile. "Oh, yes. You recently met another Beelzemon, didn't you? That partner to the Tamers…"

The Odaiba group started. "How do you know about that?" Kari asked, blinking.

Shrugging casually, Barbamon replied, "We are the Great Demon Lords. We know more than you think."

"For instance," Beelzemon added, with a maniacal gleam in his blood-red eyes, "We know all about your little 'misadventures' in the Digital World. We've been watching all of you for years, just waiting for a good chance to cut you down to size."

Barbamon surreptitiously rolled his eyes at his companion's final words; neither Beelzemon nor the Odaiba group saw.

Tai snorted. "Man, you sound like all the other bad guys, taunting us."

"And guess what? We're still here!" Davis added, a determined grin on his face.

"You've never faced the Great Demon Lords before," Barbamon replied nonchalantly.

"Uh, hello? Can you say 'Daemon'?" Davis returned, sticking his tongue out in a very childish manner.

If it put either of the Demon Lords off, they didn't show it.

"The first time you fought Daemon, you didn't even scratch him," Barbamon countered dismissively. "And the second time, you needed help from another universe to keep him from killing each of you, one by one."

Davis grimaced slightly, but he tilted his chin back defiantly. "And what about the fact that we were able to destroy him after all, with help from some new friends?"

Beelzemon waved this comment off. Behind him, his long, slim tail lashed the air impatiently. "You couldn't do it by yourselves. You're weak. You needed overwhelming numbers and fresh fighters to win."

"That doesn't disregard the fact that we were still able to beat him," Izzy replied, his tone the very epitome of logic. "That we did so suggests a combination of strategy and luck, which are both just as important as actual strength."

Beelzemon smirked. "You can be outsmarted. And luck doesn't last forever. Take a look around. What do you see?"

The Odaiba group, slightly put off by this lengthy conversation, scanned the area silently. At last, Ken said, "The Destiny Stone."

Barbamon smiled indulgingly. "Exactly. The last Destiny Stone. One of the foundations for stability in the Digital World. Without the Destiny Stones, the barriers between the worlds would collapse, and there's simply no telling what would happen then."

Ken, his mind turning the situation over swiftly, asked, "What about the seeds of light Azulongmon planted in place of the other Destiny Stones that were destroyed?" At his side, his fingers flicked rapidly, catching the Digi-Destined's attention.

"Ah, yes. Simply put, the seeds of light will keep the worlds separated, to a great degree, but they are not mature enough to prevent us from accomplishing our purpose."

"What purpose is that?" Joe asked, his eyes flicking towards the other humans. Each of the Digi-Destined held their D-3s tightly, waiting for the opportune moment. Their Digimon tensed, ready to Digivolve at a second's notice.

Beelzemon snorted. "We want the worlds. All of them. What do you think? Hasn't every single Dark Digimon you've ever faced been after the same thing?"

"Being 'Great Demon Lords', I'd think your plan would be a little more…I don't know, elegant?" Matt asked mockingly, his gaze steady. Soon now…

Barbamon laughed aloud. "Oh, yes, we have great plans. We want to shape the worlds into something beyond imagining…something that will last until the end of time, reflecting our power…oh, it will be glorious, Digi-Destined. You have no idea." After a moment, the Demon Lord said offhandedly, "You know, I suppose I should offer you each the chance to join us. We could always use more servants, and you would be able to witness wonders beyond your wildest dreams…"

"Fat chance!" Davis yelled defiantly, putting a foot forward. Glancing to either side, he gave a small nod. Just one good opportunity to catch the two off guard…

"I thought not," Barbamon lamented, though it didn't sound very sincere. With a shrug, he said casually, "By the way, how is Azulongmon? He didn't look so well when he created that Gate to escape us. I suspect it was one of the last things he did…" The corners of Barbamon's dark eyes crinkled in malicious mirth. "And I know for a fact that the other Guardian Beasts followed quickly…no one stands against the Great Demon Lords." Leaving the Odaiba group twitching with suppressed fury and renewed grief, Barbamon indifferently turned to survey the cracked Destiny Stone, still smiling. Beside him, Beelzemon shifted his eyes slightly to observe his colleague.

That was it.

_"NOW!"_ Davis yelled, thrusting his blue D-3 forward. The rest of the Digi-Destined copied his posture almost immediately as their Digimon leapt forward, enveloped in the light of Digivolution.

His back turned, Barbamon smiled darkly. "Not good enough, Digi-Destined." Bring up his black staff, the Demon Lord shouted, _"Death Lure!"_

Wheeling around in the blink of an eye, Beelzemon drew both of his shotguns, yelling, _"Double Impact!"_

As a beam of venomous purple energy leapt from the crimson orb at the top of Barbamon's staff, Beelzemon's shotguns bucked as they spewed out their burning ammo. Both attacks collided at the same moment.

The last Destiny Stone shattered, disappearing in a blaze of brilliant, blue light.

A shockwave slammed the Digi-Destined and their partners to the ground as the air turned hazy and thick. The Digivolution process interrupted, the Digimon lay stunned, blinking at the turn of events. A second shockwave ripped through the clearing, bending the bamboo around it to the ground. The Chinese Soup Spring boiled and hissed as steam rose into the hazy air. Above, lightning crackled as the clouds darkened to near-pitch black, and a ferocious wind howled through the air, carrying plants and debris at frightening velocities.

Barbamon, supported by his staff, gestured in the howling air, a small grin playing across his wrinkled face. A moment later, a small Gateway materialized, which Beelzemon quickly passed through, though the Demon Lord sent a disappointed glance back in the direction of the Digi-Destined.

Barbamon chuckled as he stepped over the threshold, gazing over the Dark Ocean as the Gate closed behind them. "Soon, Beelzemon. The best victory is over the lonely, demoralized, and broken foe."

_'Besides,'_ Barbamon added mentally, _'the Digi-Destined are a wonderful distraction. Soon…'_ The Demon Lord's mouth twisted in amusement, his smile laced with malice.

Beelzemon didn't realize the true reason behind his companion's smirk.

In the Digital World, the wind tore at the Digi-Destined, pulling each along the ground like rag dolls. The Digimon fared little better, trying to grip the ground with claws and paws.

Over the howling gale, Sora yelled, _"Now what?"_ before desperately grabbing a handful of bamboo stalks. The plants shuddered before several of them uprooted, flapping around uselessly in Sora's fist.

_"I don't know!"_ Matt shouted back, holding onto Gabumon as tightly as he could. The blond-haired teen was holding himself low to the ground, but it wasn't helping much.

_"Holding on for dear life sounds like a good idea to me!"_ Davis practically screamed over the wind.

_"That's not as easy as it sounds!"_ Cody yelled back. A second later, a thin streak of lightning arched from the clouds to the ground; coincidentally, it touched down only a few feet from Cody.

Startled, the young boy's grip on Armadillomon's smooth shell slipped…

…and Cody, his eyes wide in shock and fear, was hurled into the sky by the hurricane-force winds.

_"CODY!"_ T.K. and Armadillomon yelled simultaneously.

That one little attention slip cost everyone.

Grips instinctively loosened, and in the next instant, Digi-Destined and Digimon alike were flying through the air, with absolutely no control at all. Screaming hysterically, the Odaiba group spiraled higher and higher into the darkening skies…

XxXxX

/Shinjuku, Tokyo. The Tamers' Universe. Friday, June 25th, 2004. 1:35 p.m./

Takato squinted as he clutched his black windbreaker close to his body, buffeted by the wind. Beside him, Guilmon sniffed the air warily, his ears twitching madly.

"Man, what a storm…"

The windstorm had come out of nowhere. Not five minutes ago, the clear, sapphire skies had suddenly darkened ominously as clouds rolled by rapidly, driven by the wind. It was almost as though the wind was using whips; Takato had never seen the weather change so fast. The only comparison was the transition between day and night in the Digital World: nearly instantaneous.

Pulling his blue-tinted goggles over his eyes, Takato glanced around. He and Guilmon had been on their way back home from the card store several blocks away when the wind picked up.

Literally, picked up. Takato watched bemusedly as a community trashcan bounced down the deserted street twelve feet at a time, spewing trash into the air like Terriermon making bad jokes.

_'Okay, bad analogy…somewhat appropriate, though, considering the material in question.'_

In any case, Takato thought to himself, getting home was probably a good idea now. Sighing wearily, the gogglehead continued down the empty street, keeping a wary eye out for more flying trashcans.

Lightning flashed overhead, adding another variable to an already tense situation. Takato flinched as the thunder slammed into his eardrums. Beside him, Guilmon growled deeply, the pupils of his yellow eyes contracted into slits. He was in full feral mode.

This was no ordinary storm. They could both feel it.

Literally pushing his way against the strengthening wind, Takato strained to say, "Come on, Guilmon! We need to get back home, now!"

Still growling, Guilmon nodded, the claws on his feet gripping the street tightly. Pushing on, the raptor-like Digimon struggled against the gale beside his partner, who was having even more trouble.

Peering through his goggles and his crossed arms, Takato breathed, "Just a little farther…one more block…"

_'Man, it's a really good thing no one else seems to be out. Slow day…except it just got a whole lot more interesting. This is going to be one for the record books…'_

It wasn't far to Takato's house—he could just see it from his position on the street—but the wind was like a wall. Every step felt as though Takato was shackled to an iron ball, dragging it along behind him. It probably would have been on the order of fifty pounds…

Takato raised his left foot, again, and tried to place it down ahead of his right…

…but all it met was air.

Eyes widening, Takato tried to force his foot back down, but, balance wavering, all he managed to do was stand awkwardly on one leg. Beside him, Guilmon was having the same problem.

"Takato…can't move…forward…"

"…into…that…store…beside us…"

They never made it. In an instant, a flash of lightning hit the pole of a nearby electrical line, and the pair on the street lost what balance they had in surprise. Arms pinwheeling, Takato and Guilmon flew backwards into the air, yelling in astonishment. As Takato spun over and over in midair, he caught glimpses of the buildings below spiraling around rapidly. As Takato's stomach and intestines squirmed in protest, his eyes were blinded by a flash of white light. Then he and Guilmon were gone, leaving a windstorm of epic proportions behind.

Inside Hypnos, the alarms blared frantically.

XxXxX

_"…do you sense it?"_

_"Yes. The walls between worlds are weakening; they are on the verge of collapse. The gates have been broken. There are no seals, now."_

_"Yes…"_

_"Patience, my friend. Let us observe events before we move."_

_"Always counseling patience…very well. I will wait."_

_"Very good. After all, what has anyone ever gained by jumping in where angels fear to tread?"_

_"…angels…heh, heh, heh…you make the finest jokes sometimes…"_

XxXxX

A/N: Thought I'd forgotten the mystery voices, didn't you? Nope! They'll make their appearance eventually. Keep your shirts on. Please. ;)

Just to let you all know, the update rate may slow down over the next couple of months. Why, you ask? The answer is simple. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess for GameCube and Final Fantasy XII for PS2. Any more questions? ;)

Seriously, I'll keep working on DR, but there'll be a little more space in between my writing. On the other hand, I usually write an entire chapter in about three or four days, and if you take an additional three days or so for Plasmasphere to beta it and me to revise it, I can really get it done quickly if I want. So, don't worry about it.

Please read and review! I don't know what you're thinking otherwise. Of course, in some cases, that may be a good thing, but…you get the picture.


	6. Lost In Translation

Disclaimer:

Ryo Akiyama struggles vainly against the thick ropes suspending him from the Acme rocket (offstage, Wile E. Coyote drools at the site of the tech). With a scowl on his face, the Tamer asks irritably, "I can understand making the disclaimers more interesting, but this is ridiculous!" As Ryo finally gives up trying to escape, he adds, "And why am I the one who gets to start off the fireworks show?"

Nolaquen shrugs as he flicks the lid of Yamaki's Zippo lighter back and forth, eying the rocket's fuse surreptitiously. "You opened your big mouth during the last disclaimer. This is your comeuppance." Grinning evilly, the writer continues, "If you say the lines I gave you, I might think about sending you on an all-expense-paid vacation to Hawaii instead of letting you blow up in the stratosphere."

Ryo thinks this over carefully. After a moment, he grimaces, and says reluctantly, "Nolaquen265 doesn't own Digimon. Period. Which makes me wonder how he can use us in the disclaimers like this…"

"Toei doesn't prohibit it, so, technically, I'm free to do whatever I like with all of you. Oh, and I don't own this Acme rocket, either." With that, Nolaquen flicks open the lighter one last time and sets the flame to the rocket's fuse.

Ryo's eyes widen in surprise before yelling vehemently, _"You said I could go to Hawaii if I gave the disclaimer!"_

Nolaquen nods, grinning maniacally. "I calculated the trajectory of the rocket. You'll end up about two miles off the coast of Maui; make sure you swim in the right direction once you hit the ocean. Enjoy your all-expense-paid vacation!"

A moment later, the Acme rocket launches through the roof and into the sky, carrying a profanity-spewing Ryo with it.

Davis, from his seat in the audience, says, "Dude, that's harsh."

Nolaquen shrugs. "The readers want an interesting read, right? Well, that's what they're getting. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to think about the next disclaimer…and who to use in it…"

Chuckling darkly, Nolaquen casually strolls off the stage, leaving the rest of the fic's cast shuddering in their seats.

A/N: Yes, I'm serious about these little disclaimer skits. Hope you all enjoy, because _I'm_ certainly having fun with them. Heh heh heh…

Well, I beat Twilight Princess and Final Fantasy XII, so they won't be in the way of my updates anymore.

So, without further ado, on to the story!

**Chapter Six: Lost In Translation**

XxXxX

Takato finally stopped yelling, but it was hard to tell over the roaring sound in his ears. Despite the goggles, the Tamer was perpetually blinded by a familiar white radiance. Last, but certainly not least, was the tickling sensation spread over his entire body. All in all, the situation reeked of déjà vu.

_'Well, this certainly seems familiar…'_ Takato thought to himself as he rolled head over heels in midair. _´I think I'm in that tunnel of mist again, like when all of us got transported to the Digi-Destined's world. But is that where I'm going this time? There's no way to tell…'_

After a moment, the blinding light mercifully dimmed, and Takato nodded in weary resignation as he spied the swirling walls of mist around him.

_'Go with the flow, 'cause I can't really do anything else. Right.'_

"Guilmon?" the Tamer asked aloud, hoping to hear a response.

"Right behind you, Takato!"

Slowly spinning like a top, Takato turned to face his partner, half-smiling in amusement at Guilmon's cheery expression.

"I guess you still think this is the coolest thing since sliced bread, huh?" Takato asked lazily, lacing his fingers behind his head and leaning back. To his sides, the mist ebbed and flowed rapidly, tracing a chaotic pattern of translucent silver streams through the air.

Guilmon gave this a moment of thought before replying, "Well, maybe not Guilmon Bread, but it's still really cool!"

Takato rolled his eyes, even as his mind slowly turned the situation over. The windstorm in Shinjuku had picked up both the Tamer and his partner, and now they were flying through the dimensional tunnel again. How likely was it that they were going to end up in the Digi-Destined's Odaiba again?

The mist continued to spiral past the pair, effectively mesmerizing Guilmon. Takato simply tried to relax, waiting for the inevitable end of their trip. At least, he hoped it was inevitable. Being stuck here for eternity really wasn't all that appealing.

Several moments passed silently. Before long, Takato began to frown in puzzlement. The first time he and Guilmon had been picked up in this dimensional tunnel of mist, they had quickly been joined by the rest of the Tamers and their partners. But, no one had appeared this time. Were Takato and Guilmon on their own, wherever they were going?

And, come to think of it, didn't the movement of the mist around them look a little more…chaotic than the last time?

A growing sense of unease began to bloom in the pit of Takato's stomach. Yes, the mist was swirling much faster, and more...violently than the last time. And the mist itself appeared more insubstantial, like a field of fog slowly being blown away by the wind.

_'What's on the other side of this mist?'_ Takato wondered to himself as he chewed his lip in apprehension. _'Or…is there another side? If this tunnel of mist between worlds collapsed, would Guilmon and I be stranded in nothingness? Like the void in deep space, with no way to get anywhere, no air to breathe, and subzero temperatures freezing us to the bones…?'_

_'…got to get a handle on that imagination…'_

His eyes darting around worriedly, Takato reached back and grabbed Guilmon's left paw. Better to stick together if something happened, after all, and there was no telling what might happen in the next few minutes. Looking back at his partner, the teen noticed a look of puzzlement on Guilmon's broad face. Raising an eyebrow, Takato asked, "What's up?"

Guilmon shook his head back and forth slowly, looking fixedly at the walls of mist with a surprising intensity. "Don't look now, Takato, but I think we're about to lose our ride."

Takato's throat clenched. _'If _Guilmon's_ noticed something's wrong, then we're in for a heap of trouble…'_

That was all Takato's mind was able to get out before a blast of frigid air slammed into the pair, spinning them end over end at extremely uncomfortable speeds. Around them, the walls of mist thinned, and thinned…and vanished.

It was cold.

That was the only thing Takato noticed, as his eyes were squeezed tightly shut to guard against the disorientation and nausea that threatened to violently overturn his stomach. Guilmon, both his paws clinging to Takato's hands with a death grip, fared little better.

Pirouetting end over end in a cold void, the two merely hoped for their ride to end before they began to hurl.

They had heard that throwing up in null gravity was extremely unpleasant; after all, vomit floating in front of you is not very desirable.

Finally, inexplicably, their spiral through the frigid air began to slow. Takato groaned in relief through clenched teeth as the sensation of movement began to fade. A few moments later, the Tamer finally felt as though it was safe to open his eyes.

_Blink. Blink…_

_'Whoa…'_

They were floating in a field of pitch blackness, but the darkness was broken up by glimmering, white stars in the far distance, all around them both. And there were splashes of cool color in the void, too; soft purple, deep blue, and lustrous pink, all in patches like nebulae, suspended in space between the stars. A magnificent painting of deep space come to life in the most vivid and surrealistic of images.

And Takato and Guilmon were floating together in the center of it all.

Takato gulped impulsively, even as his wide eyes roamed over their impossible surroundings. "Guilmon…?"

"Yeah, Takato…?" Guilmon was equally awestruck, which wasn't something that happened very often.

"…if we're in space…I mean, that's what it looks like…how are we breathing? And why aren't we frozen solid?"

"Because this is not space. At least, not the kind you are thinking of."

Takato's reaction to the new, unexpected voice was very reasonable.

_"AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"_

The speaker winced as he watched Takato twitch and spasm before him. Seeing as they were floating in null gravity with no ground beneath them, jumping six feet in the air didn't work for the Tamer; twitches and spasms were the only real option left to the frazzled teen.

"My apologies," the speaker continued, eyeing the Tamer and his partner speculatively. "I did not mean to startle you."

"Well…" Takato huffed, his breath coming in gasps, "you sure did…a good job…"

After a moment, Takato got his first good look at the newcomer. He had to be a Digimon; what else could he be? Standing nearly twelve feet tall, he was covered in bulky, dark gray armor, with a flowing blue cape folded motionlessly around him, and two metallic wings with long, golden feathers spread behind. The Digimon exuded an aura of power and justness, and his amber eyes pierced Takato with a knowing gaze. All in all, it was enough to put even Gallantmon to shame.

The Digimon waited patiently for Takato and Guilmon to stop staring in awe, merely floating in the void passively. At last, Takato asked slowly, "Who are you? And where exactly are we?"

The majestic Digmon blinked, then raised his head to look above them (relatively speaking, of course). "Perhaps explanations would best wait until your companions are all gathered here."

"Our companions…?" Takato asked aloud, trailing off as he, too, glanced up. A moment later, it became clear who their 'companions' were.

Slowly falling towards the three below were the Tamers and their partners, each in their respective pairs; several raised voices were easily distinguishable. Namely, Terriermon and Kazu.

"C'mon, gimme a break! I was about to beat the game! Now I have to start all the way back at the last save point…!"

"…I was ten steps away from the greatest upgrade to my deck I could have possibly gotten! I would have been unstoppable, and then I get thrown into the air like so much garbage…!"

Don't you just hate it when that happens?

Takato shook his head as his friends slowly fell into place around him and Guilmon. Eventually, Terriermon and Kazu quieted, and the group collectively gaped at their surroundings and the majestic Digmon before them.

After giving his friends a few moments to stare in disbelief (and a little bit of apprehension), Takato cleared his throat and asked, "Can we get some answers now, please?"

The Digimon shook his head before replying, "Not all of you are here yet. We will wait for them, first."

"Not all of us…?" Henry asked aloud. The teen looked around, attempting to temporarily ignore the strangeness of the situation, and quickly taking a head count. Takato, Henry, Rika, Ryo, Jeri, Kazu, Kenta, Suzie, Ai, and Mako, along with their respective partners, were all floating together in the void, so...

"We're not missing anyone," Rika said, her face expressionless. The redhead floated alongside Renamon with her arms crossed over her chest, looking for all the world like a bored teen waiting for the walk light to change so she could cross the street. Renamon appeared equally placid. Her fur wasn't even ruffled.

The armored Digimon inclined his head slightly. "You are not, exactly, but we are waiting for another group nonetheless."

"Three guesses who these people are going to be, and the first two don't count," Terriermon chimed in from his position atop Henry's head.

"'Dose Digi-Destined kids we fought wit' a couple a' days ago?" Impmon asked disinterestedly as he lounged in midair next to Ai.

The mystery Digimon simply nodded; he remained motionless otherwise, apparently waiting patiently for the next arrivals.

Henry raised an eyebrow as he said, "Well, that was fast."

"I know what you mean, pal. I didn't expect to see those guys again so quickly," Kazu agreed, though he didn't look away from the armored Digimon. He had a feeling he'd seen this guy on a card somewhere…

A moment later, he snapped his fingers in recognition. "I know you! You're Alphamon, the leader of the Royal Knights!"

"Hmm. So you recognize me?" The newly-named Alphamon replied, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Yeah! You're a Mega, and you're supposed to be _really_ strong! I've been trying to get your card ever since that last movie came out…the CG one…"

Alphamon chuckled lightly, a glint of amusement appearing in his amber eyes. "Contrary to what you may think, the events of that latest movie are quite fictional. As far as I know—and I know a great deal—the happenings portrayed in that latest addition to your Digimon franchise have never occurred in any world that I know of."

Alphamon then continued, apparently still amused, "So, you're Kazu?"

Kazu blanched. "Uh…how exactly…?"

"I make it my business to know the goings-on of as many worlds as I can, and your recent trip to the Digi-Destined's world, in particular, attracted our attention."

"'Our' attention?" Jeri asked in slight confusion, looking around as though she expected more Digimon to pop out of the void.

Alphamon held up a hand. "Patience. I will explain in due course." A moment later, the armored Digimon cocked his head, as though listening for something. Then, he gestured to his right with an armored gauntlet.

Following his line of sight, the Shinjuku group looked to their left, trying to see whatever Alphamon was pointing out. It became obvious several seconds later.

A cold breeze brushed across the group, causing several of the Tamers and the smaller Digimon to shiver slightly. Then, far off in the distance, a number of darkened silhouettes slowly became visible. It was hard to gauge distance, since they had nothing to judge by, but the silhouettes seemed to be coming closer to the Shinjuku crew.

After a few moments, Kenta nodded to himself. "That's the Digi-Destined, alright." Sure enough, the Chosen Children and their partners soon became clear, and several of the Tamers and their partners waved in greeting.

Ryo raised an eyebrow as the distance between the two groups finally became negligible. "What happened to you guys?"

"A couple of bad guys happened, that's what," a disgruntled Davis Motomiya answered as he attempted to smooth the creases in his rumpled shirt. His normally spiky hair was even more mussed than usual, with several locks of hair covering his goggle's lenses.

Veemon added, "We got our backsides handed to us, and we didn't even have time to Digivolve!"

Terriermon winced in sympathy. "That's rough."

"Tell me about it…"

Alphamon cleared his throat just enough to catch the attention of the two groups. As one, Tamer, Digi-Destined, and Digimon alike turned in midair to face the armored Royal Knight. The Digi-Destined and their partners blinked in surprise at the majestic Digimon, but they remained silent, though their obvious questions nearly poured out in a tangible flood.

"Now that you are all assembled here, I will explain the circumstances surrounding your…sudden departure from your home-worlds," Alphamon began, crossing his arms over his armored chest. The group before him floated lazily, but their faces were attentive.

Alphamon continued, "First, I must tell you where you are. No easy task, but…" He gestured expansively with a gauntlet, as though trying to sweep his arm across the space around them, saying, "You are floating in the Abyss. The chasm, or void, between worlds. Those white pinpoints of light you see in the distance, which look like stars, are worlds."

Takato snapped his fingers. "Every time we traveled through that mist, we've seen one of those stars at the beginning and end of the tunnel. Those are actual worlds? I wondered…"

Alphamon nodded. "Yes. That 'tunnel of mist' could also be called 'Infinity', for its endless possibilities, for every place it can take you. Simply put, it is both gateway and road from one distinct world to another. When you Tamers first traveled through it, the gateway was opened by the Child of Light's crest, and her plea for help."

"That confirms _that_ theory," Izzy stated, a pleased look on his face. A moment later, his brow furrowed as he asked, "But how do you know about all of this? And about Kari's crest, and such?"

The Royal Knight half-smiled, merely saying, "I have my ways." Takato looked at the Odaiba crew and shrugged, conveying his own sense of bewilderment.

"Now," Alphamon continued, "I am Alphamon, as Kazu has so graciously pointed out." Here, Kazu flushed from the attention, while Alphamon continued, "I am the leader of the Royal Knights, who guard the Abyss from any assault from other worlds…or within." A dark expression flitted across the Royal Knight's face, but it quickly disappeared. "A dry, dull task at times, but maintaining our control of the Abyss prevents different worlds from directly interacting too much…usually."

Ken raised a hand. "I beg your pardon, but what about the Digital World and the Real World? Er, 'Worlds'…I don't know…" Shaking his head, the Digi-Destined continued, "We interact with the Digital World often, and there are dozens of new Digimon partners appearing in our Real World every day. How is it that they intermingle so often and easily, if you try to prevent that?"

Alphamon remained silent for a moment before replying, with a gleam of satisfaction in his amber eyes, "You have a fine mind, Ken Ichijouji."

Blinking at the unexpected praise (and attempting, unsuccessfully, to ignore Yolei's prideful grin, directed in his direction), Ken scratched the back of his head awkwardly. Alphamon continued, "The matter of the Real Worlds and the Digital Worlds is different. Each 'star' that you see here in the Abyss is technically composed of two worlds; a 'Real World' and a 'Digital World.' These worlds intertwined for reasons only Fate may truly understand." Alphamon shrugged. "Regardless, the True Worlds, the stars you see in the Abyss, very rarely are connected. Such things as data, dreams, and nightmares often seep from one world to the next, influencing their development, but that is usually the extent of their interaction. Until now."

The group before him winced. Were they in trouble? Had they done some damage in their meeting? Had they broken some grand, unwritten law of the universe, which would result in their imminent, utterly painful executions?

Obviously, this last wholly random thought was Takato's. Go figure.

Alphamon observed the group's expressions with some amusement before saying, "You are not in trouble, nor has any true harm been done. As I have said, it has happened before. The issue is, why this has happened _this _time, and what to do about it."

After a pause, Izzy spoke up. "Well, we just came from our Digital World. Two of the Great Demon Lords, Barbamon and Beelzemon—not you, of course, Impmon—destroyed our last Destiny Stone near Digi-China Town. After that, well…everything went nuts. We were caught up in a spatial vortex of some sort, traveled through this 'Infinity', and ended up here."

"The last Destiny Stone?" Henry asked bemusedly. Rubbing his chin, the teen said, "If I recall, the Destiny Stones kept the order of the Digital World's boundaries, right?"

"That's right," Ken confirmed. The Digi-Destined frowned as he considered the situation. "With the last Destiny Stone destroyed, that leaves only Azulongmon's Seeds of Light to keep the boundaries in check…what if the Great Demon Lords want to go after those next?" The rest of the Digi-Destined shuddered at the prospect. Without those, the Real World and the Digital World would begin to overlap, and eventually destroy each other…

Right?

Alphamon waved his hand dismissively. "Do not place so much importance on those few anchors. No world relies wholly on one method of stability. Even were all the Seeds of Light destroyed, the Digital World itself would soon set things right. It is the way of the universe. Balance is natural, even if it takes time to reassert itself. I assure you, no world would be destroyed in so simple an act." The Digimon then frowned. "No, I believe the Great Demon Lords will simply use brute force and weakened barriers to conquer worlds, instead of destroying them in such a manner. What can you rule if there is nothing _to_ rule?"

The group sighed in relief, but they remained somewhat puzzled. So much emphasis had always been put on maintaining the security of the Digital World by protecting points where it was weak, or its 'shields', for lack of a better term. This new view of natural balance had completely turned that idea on its head, leaving the Digi-Destined and their partners somewhat lost.

Alphamon cleared his throat, shaking the group of its reverie. "Time is short, so we must continue our discussion. In fact," the Royal Knight said, frowning, "we only have a few minutes. You only remain here, in the Abyss, by my power. Without it, you would have been flung across far worlds already. We must make plans before that happens, and you are all separated. After all, my power is not unlimited…"

_"HUH?"_

Alphamon turned to the Tamers. "Each of you was taken from your world by way of Infinity, correct?"

"Basically, I think so," Henry replied after glancing over the Shinjuku group. The nods he received confirmed his assertion.

"That is because the destruction of the last Destiny Stone in the Digi-Destined's Digital World temporarily weakened the natural barriers between the worlds," Alphamon said. "They will eventually be strengthened in response, but in the meantime, you will be split up by the strength of the forces which brought you here, to the Abyss."

"Split up?" Suzie asked, clutching both of Lopmon's ears quite tightly. Lopmon herself winced at the pressure, but remained silent as she considered the consequences of such an event.

Her conclusion was the same as everyone else's. Not good.

Alphamon nodded in response to Suzie's question. Izzy then asked, "Why is that? I can understand being picked up and tossed into this Abyss by a weakening of the barriers, but being split up…?"

"I know the worlds and their protections better than nearly anyone living," Alphamon replied, "and I can tell you a great many things about them. In this case, the energy released from the breaking down of your worlds' shields has, in effect, set most of you on different courses through Infinity, like a distorted version of gravity's pull on a falling object. To put it simply, if I had not stopped you here with my power, you very probably would have been forced to different worlds by that energy, eventually arriving on those worlds utterly alone." Gesturing to the stars surrounding the group, the Royal Knight said grimly, "There are many worlds. The likelihood that you would have ever found your way back to each other, and even back to your own worlds, would have been nearly infinitesimal. This is a hazardous place, if you have no control over your surroundings."

Both the Shinjuku and Odaiba groups shuddered in sudden fear. The idea of being cast across the universe—no, perhaps the _multiverse _was a better word—alone and friendless, in the midst of unknown worlds and challenges, was…terrifying. The younger Tamers could hardly hold back whimpers of panic, and even the older teenagers in the group had difficulty controlling themselves. Far more than one face had gone pale.

Ken was the first to shake himself from his daze. Thinking Alphamon's words over carefully, the teen asked cautiously, "You said 'if I had not stopped you here with my power'. You have, so does that mean we'll still be split up? Could you keep us together, and keep that from happening?"

Alphamon observed the faint glow of hope slowly kindle in the eyes of the humans and Digimon before him. Smiling softly, the Royal Knight replied, "My strength is vast, and I can help you, but it will be limited help. I will be able to keep each of you from being thrown to a world alone; you will each retain several of your companions. Which, I cannot say; the energy released from your worlds' barriers is simply too strong for me to manipulate to that extent. It seems likely to me that each of you and your partners will be able to remain together, however, seeing as each of you are deeply connected with one another on a level that often defies such random chance as this…"

The group before him sighed in relief, although tinges of doubt still remained apparent on their faces. Alphamon, now obviously feeling the press of time, continued on, "The Great Demon Lords doubtless hoped that something like this would happen in order to weaken your resistance against them, although I do not believe they realized that their actions would take the Tamers as well. Surely they wanted to gain access to other worlds, but bringing their enemies together was, in all probability, _not_ part of their plan."

"How did that happen, anyway, if the Destiny Stone was in our world?" Sora asked, puzzled.

Alphamon replied, "Your worlds are in relatively close proximity; that the Digi-Destined's adventures were captured so accurately in the Tamers' world as a television series is testament to that. In any case, it appears that the released energy bled over into the Tamers world, thus affecting them much the same as it did you, who were in close proximity to the focal point of the energy's release. As for why it only took the Tamers and their partners…" Here, Alphamon shrugged his armored shoulders. "Who can say but Fate? Perhaps it is their close relationship to the Digimon, or their previous adventures…"

"In any case, what do we do now?" Tai asked almost impatiently as he clenched his fist. "If we're separated, then we'll have trouble taking on all the Demon Lords. And how big are these groups going to be? If we're stuck in something as small as pairs, we'll get picked off one by one. I don't know what Azulongmon's Digi-Cores did for us," at this, he lifted up his new orange rimmed D-3, consequently making several of the Tamers' eyes widen in surprise (after all, since when had _Tai_ possessed a D-3?), "but I doubt it'll be enough. Look at what happened with Daemon!"

Alphamon shook his head in disagreement. "Daemon was by far the strongest of the Demon Lords. If you are in sizable groups, you may be able to take on one Demon Lord at a time…if they, too, split up to handle each group." The Royal Knight cocked his head as he studied the Digi-Destined's new D-3s, which were clutched in the humans' hands. "I had not expected something like this. Azulongmon's Digi-Cores?"

Gabumon nodded as his friends' faces took on melancholy expressions. "The Great Demon Lords seem to have…destroyed our Guardian Beasts. Azulongmon opened a portal to the Real World a few minutes before he was deleted, and he gave us his Digi-Cores before he sent us to the Digital World…"

"And his strength gave out right before we left," Sora added, shaking her head sadly. "We were too shocked to really do anything, except go. And then we got tangled up with those two Demon Lords, and…well, you know the rest."

"Indeed." Alphamon's face took on a grave expression. "You have little time, so I must prepare you for what is to come."

The large group before him listened attentively, their faces set with resolve. Even the Tamers and their partners were strongly affected by the news of the Digi-Destined's most recent experiences. They were comrades-in-arms, in a way, and a loss to one group now seemed a loss to both.

Alphamon gestured towards the distant stars. "Now, each of you will be scattered to different worlds in small groups. As I have said, I cannot say which ones, nor whether you will arrive in a Digital World or a Real World, but you must remain together once you arrive. In each True World, there is a sort of gateway that you must find in order to return to Infinity. Once you find this access point, you will be brought back here, to the Abyss. My power can barely hold you here at the moment, but once you escape the existing energy pulling you away, I will be able to take you wherever we need go in order to stop the Demon Lords permanently."

"Now, these gateways have many forms: a cave, a storm cloud, even a simple door made of wood…simply put, they can be anything. They are usually passed by, for any number of reasons, but I can help you find and activate them. Hold out your Digivices," Alphamon finished in a stern tone, raising his gauntleted hands.

After a moment of hesitation, each of the Tamers and Digi-Destined raised their respective Digivices, pointing them towards the Royal Knight. A few seconds later, Alphamon's hands began to glow faintly, and the screens of the Digivices reacted in kind. Several moments later, the glow faded, and Alphamon said, "Once you arrive in a world, you will be able to use your Digivices' tracking function to find a gateway. For lack of a better term, you might call these gateways 'True Portals', in reference to the True Worlds and the Abyss that lies between them…"

A cold wind was beginning to blow, brushing its icy fingers across the necks of the humans, causing each to cringe and shiver in response. Alphamon frowned, then waved his hand in the air. "Our time is up."

Seconds later, the entire group began to notice that they were slowly gaining distance between themselves and several of their neighbors. Several moments after that, the wind strengthened into a howling gale, and each of the group felt themselves begin to fly away…leaving some of their friends traveling in almost the opposite direction.

_"I may be able to send some of my Royal Knights to aid you, but you must not count on their assistance!"_ Alphamon shouted over the gale and the cries of alarm from the scattering group. Alphamon himself hadn't moved, though his blue cape whipped and swirled about him like a flitting specter. _"Our powers are limited outside the Abyss, which we are mandated by Fate to protect, but we will try! Once you come back, we will assist you will as best we can! Good luck, Digi-Destined, Tamers, and Digimon…! And be cautious…!"_

The Abyss, and Alphamon's voice within it, disappeared in a flash of blinding white light and swirling mist.

XxXxX

/Unknown Digital World. Friday, June 25th, 2004. 1:50 p.m./

_"THIS IS GONNA BE ROUGH!"_ Takato yelled in warning as he dropped like a rock. Not that his warning did much good…to him or anybody else.

_SPLASH!_

Takato came up sputtering, gagging on water. All in all, he hadn't hit the water _too _hard…just hard enough to disorient him.

Shaking his head, trying to clear the fog that seemed intent on settling in between his ears, Takato looked up, trying to see if anyone had followed him.

The answer to that question was: yes.

_SPLASH! SPLASH, SPLASH!_

_"AAAGGGHHH!"_

Well, that was Kazu. The visor-toting Tamer landed in the water right next to Takato, who breathed a hearty sigh of relief; no one had landed on him this time.

Jinx.

_"CANNONBALL!"_ Guardromon shouted cheerfully, oblivious to the Tamer frozen in his shadow below.

"Aw, nuts…" Takato got out just before he dove under the water's surface and began swimming away frantically. Fortunately, by the time Guardromon touched down in the water, Takato had put a few feet between him and 'ground zero.'

Breaking back up through the water's surface, Takato sputtered, "Well, there's one more close call to add to the list…"

"No kidding!" Kazu shouted in response. A moment later, the teen shouted, "Hey! _Guardromon sinks in water!"_

_'Oh, great,'_ Takato thought to himself, mentally groaning. _'We get dropped in the middle of a…lake, I guess, and Guardromon's built like a tank. How on earth are we supposed to get him out…?'_

The answer to Takato's unspoken question and Kazu's frantic splashing quickly became apparent. The water began to bubble before Guardromon's head slowly rose above the surface, soon followed by the rest of his body.

"Fear not, good sirs!" Guardromon said triumphantly, before gesturing to the small rockets mounted on his back. "It will take more than a little water to stop Guardromon!"

Kazu sighed in relief. "You know, for once, I'm actually glad to hear you talk like that, buddy."

"As am I!" Guardromon said in response, eliciting a bemused look from both Takato and Kazu.

"Right…" Takato murmured before finally looking around. They were definitely in a lake, and it appeared as though the shore on any side was surrounded by forest. Bringing his attention a little closer to home, Takato began to count heads bobbing in the water. "Okay, there's me, Kazu, Guardromon…Guilmon, over here! And…Davis and Veemon…" the aforementioned pair could be seen doing the breaststroke towards the gogglehead, "…Rika and Renamon, good to know they're alright…and…aw, nuts. Mimi had to be wearing a dress today…"

Mimi Tachikawa, indeed, was wearing a dark blue, ruffled skirt stretching to her ankles. And, as many girls might tell you, it's very difficult to swim in such a piece of clothing. Palmon was treading water next to the screeching girl (how had he missed that racket before? Takato wondered), attempting to calm the Digi-Destined down, but it was failing somewhat miserably.

Turning his head, Takato shouted, "Kazu, Guardromon! Grab Mimi before she goes and drowns!"

As Kazu scrambled onto his partner's back, Guardromon replied gallantly, "Always willing to help a damsel in distress!" before flying over to the panicking girl. In a steady motion, the armored Champion plucked Mimi out of the water with Palmon clinging to the Digi-Destined's waist. It took Mimi several moments to realize she wasn't in imminent danger of drowning; eventually, she traded panicked screams for sullen glares at anything moving.

Takato shook his head as Davis, Veemon, Rika, and Renamon reached him. Turning he said, "You'd think it was _our_ fault she ended up in a lake."

"Better a lake than the ground," Rika replied coolly, making it very clear that she didn't sympathize much with the Digi-Destined girl. After all, what was the problem with getting a little wet if it saved you from hitting the ground after falling from the sky?

Davis grinned, saying, "Once she's dried out, she'll be a little less hostile. Speaking of dry, last one to the shore's a rotten Digi-Egg!"  
"Not me!" Veemon responded, launching himself forward, making straight for the shore. Davis was only a splash behind, leaving the two Tamers and their partners treading water. Takato looked at Rika and said, "You know, they're just as energetic as the show always made them seem."

"Gee, Gogglehead, I wonder why?" Rika remarked dryly. A moment later, the redhead and her partner began to follow the two at a leisurely pace.

Turning to Guardromon and his passengers, Takato waved a hand forward, gesturing towards the bank. Beside him, Guilmon began swimming with powerful strokes; it was hard to tell whether the Digimon's tail was an asset or merely in the way, for all the splashing about it did.

Shaking his head, Takato quickly followed, even as he watched Guardromon flying ahead. Soon, his thoughts drifted to his glaringly absent companions. _'Hmm…I wonder where everyone else ended up?'_

XxXxX

/Unknown Digital World. 1:53 p.m./

Tai brushed the dust off his shirt, glancing at his group's surroundings. As far as he could tell, they were in the middle of an expansive desert of red sand. Mushroom shaped columns of rock were scattered sparsely across the horizon; the columns made for some excellent shade, Tai decided as he stretched his arms above his head, trying to enjoy both the relief from the heat and the moment of new adventure. Beside him, Agumon sniffed the air curiously.

"Well? What do you think?" Tai asked his partner, looking down at the yellow dinosaur.

Agumon looked back up, replying, "I think it's a Digital World. It's got a smell of…data, I guess. It doesn't feel quite like the Real World, so…"

"I'll take that wager," Gabumon agreed. Looking around at the environment, the Digimon shook his head morosely. "Boy, I'm going to fry if it gets any hotter out here…"

"That's the trouble with having fur, I guess," Matt said, half-grinning at his partner. "I'm glad I'm in short-sleeves."

MarineAngemon giggled as he floated over Kenta's shoulder. The Tamer squinted through his glasses, trying to make out anything in the distance besides red sand and rock columns. Beside him, Suzie sat in the sand lethargically with Lopmon on her head, echoing Henry and Terriermon's common stance; the chocolate-colored rabbit was slowly flapping her big ears to provide Suzie and herself with a nice breeze. At the moment, there wasn't much air movement to speak of, so this was a temporary solution to the heat problem.

Ai sat nearby in the shade of the mushroom rock, fiddling anxiously with the purple D-Arc she and Mako shared. Unfortunately, Mako wasn't with them; it seemed likely that he had ended up with another group somewhere…

On the bright side, Impmon was standing nearby, surveying the red desert impassively. He wasn't showing it, but the little imp was worried about his other partner. After all, how could he possibly protect both when one was on another world entirely? Biting his lip, the Digimon stared out at the seemingly endless horizon, his gaze unfocused.

Next to Ai sat Sora, who was attempting to soothe the girl with a big-sister presence. "You shouldn't worry about Mako, Ai," the teenager said, directing the comment as much towards Impmon as the girl beside her. "I'm sure that, whoever he got caught up with, he'll be just fine. After all, we try our best to keep everyone safe, no matter what the circumstances, and he seems to know the rest of the Tamers pretty well…"

"That's right," Matt added, turning to the two girls. "When we see him next, he'll probably have loads of stories to tell you about what happened…wherever they ended up."

Sora nodded in thanks before turning her gaze to the skies. Biyomon had flown up several minutes ago, after they'd all landed on a sand dune, to get the lay of the land. Rubbing a bruise on her side absently, Sora gave silent thanks that they hadn't been dropped out of Infinity too high above the ground. Still, sand was only a marginally better landing pad than solid ground. Of course, it could always have been worse, the Digi-Destined reminded herself. They might have ended up on a stony mountainside or in the middle of an ocean. Yes, the sand wasn't so bad a fall-breaker after all.

Except now she'd managed to get herself worried about the other groups…

Shaking her head, Sora refocused her attention on the blue sky. The desert sky really was something; it was such a deep, pure shade of blue that it almost seemed larger than the desert they were in…

A few minutes later, Sora squinted through the sunlight, spying a flash of pink in the sky. After a short wait, Biyomon swooped in for a slow, clean landing next to the Digi-Destined. Ruffling her feathers to shake loose the sand, the Digimon said, "The landscape doesn't change much, as far as the eye can see. It's all sand and rock. I have no clue which direction to start in," Biyomon finished, her face taking on a sheepish expression.

Sora smiled encouragingly. "Don't worry about it, Biyomon. We'll figure something out." Straightening from her crouch, the teen asked the group, "Well, what do we do now? We need to pick a way to go…"

Kenta snapped his fingers, then pulled out his gray-rimmed D-Arc. "Remember what Alphamon did for our Digivices? To find those 'True Portals'?" The Tamer began to press buttons on the front of the device, saying, "I just have to activate the tracking function and…bingo!" At Kenta's exclamation, a holographic compass circle appeared above the Digivice, with a small arrow circling inside, pointing outwards.

Tai whistled. "Nice. All we've got on our D-3s is the screen. Holograms, huh?" Shaking his head, the Digi-Destined of Courage remarked, "Still, we already got one upgrade…" Tai's face darkened. "And that cost way too much to be taking for granted." Hefting his new orange D-3, Tai eyed it thoughtfully. Matt and Sora echoed his actions, staring at their upgraded devices sadly.

Kenta's face had flushed with pleasure at the admiration of the older Digi-Destined, but now he winced internally. What a way to bring up what was sure to be a tender subject…

After a moment, Tai shook his head and, in an attempt to bring back some life to the group, said, "Well, what better time to get started than the present? Let's head out!"  
Kenta nodded, glad that the awkward moment had passed, and consulted his Digivice for a moment. The arrow had settled on one direction; it seemed to be northwest, as far as Kenta could tell from the markings around the holographic compass.

Ai got to her feet and brushed the sand off her jeans. Unfortunately, the little red sand grains stuck to her hands, so the girl wiped them on her jeans…then glared at the persistent sand in frustration.

Yeah, that didn't work.

Anyway, with a nod to Impmon, she said, "Yeah, let's get going! The sooner we find the Portal, the sooner we can all get back together!"

Matt grinned and gestured in their chosen direction with a flourish. "Well, let's not waste time standing around! We've got a Portal to find!"

XxXxX

/Unknown Digital World. 1:55 p.m./

Ryo surveyed the small town before them, watching as various Digimon made their way through the cobblestone streets. The Tamer and his companions sat at the top of a little hill, overlooking the town; the green knoll had been their landing place, after being dropped out of Infinity. Fortunately, the ground was moist, and the grass springy, so the abrupt end to their trip hadn't been as bad, or as painful, as it might have been.

After a few moments, Cody, from his position nearby, asked, "Well, what do we do now?"

Shaking himself from his scrutiny of the nearby town, Ryo replied, "I guess we find one of the 'True Portals' Alphamon told us about. What else did you have in mind?"

Cody shrugged his small shoulders. "I'm not sure, exactly. I just wanted to know what our plans are."

Ryo clasped his hands behind his head and lay back on the grass lazily, staring up at the clouds floating past above them. "I doubt it matters much at the moment. Let's take a breather before we start. We'll probably come up with something if we relax here for a few minutes."

Izzy nodded his head before sitting down next to the Tamer, studying the town's inhabitants from a distance. "After our little tour through Infinity, I'd say we're entitled to a little rest. That was an amazing experience…"

Ryo chuckled. "It's definitely something. Still, it's nice to have some solid ground beneath my feet."

Ken nodded in agreement, sticking his hands in his pockets. After a moment, he asked, "Before we set out to find a Portal, should we stop by that town? Maybe the Digimon there know something that could help us…"

"Might be," Yolei acknowledged, squinting through her round glasses. Hawkmon copied her scrutiny of the nearby town, peering forward with the eyes of, well…a hawk.

"They certainly _look_ like normal Digimon," the Rookie said. "I see some Gotsumon, Togemon, Elecmon…and there's a Centaurumon, by the city gates…" Hawkmon frowned in puzzlement. "I don't recognize _those_ Digimon, however. Those short, brown ones by that store…"

"Those are Burgermon," Ryo replied, after sitting up and glancing down to the movement in the town streets. "They have hats that look like hamburger buns, see? That one over there, the one wearing the chef's outfit, is a Champion. Friendly types, usually. They like to cook hamburgers, which may not surprise you, given their name. If we go talk to them, they'll probably know something about the area and what's happening locally. They love to chat, and they pick up all sorts of gossip in their hamburger stands and shops," he finished thoughtfully.

Cyberdramon nodded in agreement, although he didn't voice any comments beyond a muted growl. Ryo glanced at his partner before saying, "We just have to make sure Cyberdramon doesn't eat too much. The last time he had Burgermon burgers, he didn't stop until he'd eaten the stand's whole stock. Nearly tore it apart looking for more…" The Tamer chuckled at the memory, while the Digi-Destined and their partners looked at the two blankly. Seeing their looks, Ryo waved a hand dismissively, saying, "That's Cyberdramon for you. Insatiable, whether it's food or a good fight. Don't worry, though. He won't attack any of us; that's not his style."

His companions blinked several times before looking at the Ultimate with a new wariness. Cyberdramon acknowledged these looks with a blank stare from behind his facemask, before turning his attention back to the little town below them. The Digi-Destined and their partners shuddered a little as they tried to make their sudden attention more inconspicuous. Ryo just grinned at their discomfiture.

Clearing his throat, Mako said hesitantly, "Well, if that's our plan, should we get started? I mean," he continued nervously, "I'd sorta like to get back to Ai and Impmon soon. Not that I'm scared, or anything, but…"

Ryo turned to the younger boy, a half-grin on his face. "I know. This whole thing is new to you, isn't it? You've never been to a Digital World before, even ours. And, your experience with Digimon is pretty much limited to helping Impmon and the rest of us take bio-emerged Digimon to Hypnos, so they can get them back to our own Digital World…"

Mako nodded, his eyes glancing around at their surroundings vigilantly, as though expecting to be set upon by rogue Digimon at a moment's notice. Izzy chuckled before saying, "Don't worry; with all of us here, there's not much that can happen."

Ken, Yolei, Cody, and their partners all nodded in agreement, trying to boost the younger boy's spirits. It seemed to work, as Mako gave a small grin and an answering nod.

Ryo stood up and stretched leisurely. "Well, if we're going, let's go."

"Hold on a minute," Ken said, gazing down at the town. "What kind of Digimon are those?"

The Tamer looked at the teen before following the other's line of sight. Down below, marching through the street in rigid formation, was a group of squat, armored Digimon, armed with small spears. It was hard to tell at their distance, but it seemed as though the group commanded the attention of the town's inhabitants; most of the local Digimon nearby quickly made way, watching the passing group carefully before going back to their business.

Ryo raised an eyebrow. "Hmm. Don't recognize those Digimon…" Taking out his D-Arc, the Tamer continued, "Let's see if we've got any info on them…"

The D-Arc beeped once before projecting a holographic picture of the Digimon into the air. Ignoring the Digi-Destined's whistles of appreciation for the tech, Ryo read aloud, "PawnChessmon. A Rookie-level Digimon of the Virus type. Weak in power, but they make up for this disadvantage with numbers and clever tactics. They come in white and black varieties, but these differences are superficial." Returning the D-Arc to his belt, Ryo commented, "Interesting Digimon. I guess that explains the marching in formation. They almost look like a patrol…"

"Maybe they're law enforcers for this area," Yolei ventured, tapping her chin with a finger.

"Perhaps," Izzy agreed. "In any case, I say we head down into the town and see if we can find any relevant information."

At the round of nods, the redhead started down the grassy hill with Tentomon hovering at his side. The rest of the group quickly followed, intent on finding their way back home quickly.

XxXxX

/Unknown World. 1:56 p.m./

"It doesn't look too bad," Joe said after examining the small cut running above T.K.'s left eye. Drawing back, the doctor-in-training continued, "I guess it's a good thing those branches broke our fall, even if they did give you that cut."

T.K. nodded, wincing slightly as he ran a finger over the slight injury. "It's also a good thing we landed in a deserted area of this park. If someone had seen us drop out of the sky and into the trees, they probably would have investigated, if they didn't think they'd gone crazy."

"And we have no clue if the people here have ever even seen Digimon before," Kari added, watching in concern as T.K. examined the slight amount of blood left on his finger. "So, we can't let anyone see our partners."

Gatomon huffed in mock irritation as her ears twitched. "If you think I can't hide from a couple of humans, then you don't know me so well, Kari."

"I wasn't worried about you, Gatomon," Kari replied affectionately, grinning at her feline partner. "I was more concerned with…"

"The flying guinea pig?" T.K. guessed, raising an eyebrow. Said 'flying guinea pig' _harrumphed_ loudly from the top of T.K.'s white hat.

"The terrier who can't keep his mouth shut to save his life?" Henry added, grinning. From a tree branch above their heads, Terriermon could easily be heard saying, "I could _so_ keep it shut…it just isn't any fun!"

Kari nodded in response to both boys, sharing an amused smile with Jeri. Joe rolled his eyes before clamping a hand over Gomamon's opening mouth. "We don't need any more witty comments from you, pal," he said, half-grinning at his partner.

_"Hmmph frumph numph!"_

"I'll ignore that," Joe replied good-naturedly.

After a round of soft laughter from the others, T.K. said, "Well, should a couple of us start having a real look around? It's obvious from the people that Kari saw earlier that we're in some Real World, but we should probably find out what's happening."

Henry nodded in agreement. "After all, we don't know where one of these 'True Portals' might be. For all we know, it could be downtown here, or in this world's version of the Digital World."

"I think we need to make information gathering our first priority," Joe added. "If this world has had extensive contact with Digimon, there may not be a reason to keep our partners out of sight. If, on the other hand…"

"No one's ever heard of Digimon before, we might start a panic," Jeri finished, a thoughtful look on her face.

"And we definitely don't want that to happen," Terriermon said in a 'that's-so-obvious' tone. However, he then added, "But, it'd sure be fun to see everyone run around like chickens with their heads cut off!"

Henry groaned as he half-heartedly tossed a clod of moist dirt up at Terriermon's tree branch. "Besides the fact that you seem to take an obscene pleasure in tormenting people, I need to stop you from talking like, well…"

"Impmon?" Jeri offered, smiling.

"Thanks, Jeri. Yeah, that'll work," Henry replied, directing a glare up at his partner. Terriermon just chortled merrily and began swinging from branch to branch with his long ears.

Shaking his head, Joe got to his feet, pulling T.K. up with him. "Well, I guess we'll split up to cover more area." Looking through the tree trunks of the park to the skyscrapers beyond, Joe said, "You know, I think we're in Tokyo. Or, at least, _a_ Tokyo."

Kari nodded. "I get the same feeling. It's almost like home…"

"Well," Henry replied, "let's get moving, then. If it _is_ Tokyo, let's try and find some landmarks we might recognize. I mean, Tokyo can't be _that_ different from one world to another, can it?"

"Don't jinx us, Henry," Terriermon responded, sounding almost serious, as he dropped out of the trees and onto his partner's shoulder. "With alternate worlds, who knows?"

Henry raised an eyebrow at his partner. "Since when are you an expert on different dimensions?"

"Since I started reading your science magazines!" Terriermon answered smugly.

Henry snorted. "Since you started watching Star Trek reruns, you mean."

The little Rookie shrugged carelessly. "They're close enough, right?"

The Tamer palmed his face in exasperation as Kari and Jeri giggled. T.K. and Patamon grinned while Joe shook his head in bemusement. "And I thought _my_ partner was a character…"

"Hey!"

XxXxX

/Council Room of the Great Demon Lords, the Dark Area. 1:58 p.m./

"As you can see, our hunch was proven correct," Barbamon said to the rest of the Demon Lords. Gesturing towards the mucus pool, which shifted from one overhead view of a Digi-Destined/Tamer group to another, the Great Demon Lord continued, "Once the barriers were weakened, the Digi-Destined were swept away by the released energy. Now, they are scattered across worlds; easy prey, in other words."

Lucemon Chaos Mode gazed at the images as they blended into each other. The silence in the chamber stretched on for several moments, until the fallen angel said, in a casual tone, "And, yet, there appears to have been a slight miscalculation."

Beelzemon and Lilithmon winced; Barbamon had far too much control for such an outward display of discomfort, so he made the next statement in a relaxed tone, in an attempt to keep the situation, always tenuous among the Demon Lords, from devolving into something less…stable.

"Yes, the…Tamers appear to have been caught up in the disturbance as well," the old Digimon said slowly. "That was…not foreseen. Still, our purpose has been accomplished," he continued more boldly. "The humans and their partners have been split into small groups. It should be easy for us to take them one at a time…"

After a moment, Lucemon inclined his head in acknowledgement. Beelzemon and Lilithmon breathed almost-silent sighs of relief, then glared at each other when they realized they had responded at the same time. Barbamon, for his part, appeared impassive, not allowing himself to feel anything at all. He had more to accomplish here that simply saving the rest of the Council from a tongue lashing. Much more.

"I would think it a waste of time for the entire Council to attack each group one at a time," Barbamon began, realizing that he was treading on thin ice. If Lucemon, or any of the others, were to smell the slightest hint of what he was up to, they might unravel everything Barbamon had worked for over the long years.

And they would have his head.

But it was worth the risk.

"I would think," Barbamon continued carefully, "that it might be more expedient, and perhaps enjoyable as well, if we were each to pick a world and destroy the children individually, or in pairs. After all, where is the glory in attacking these humans and their partners en mass?"

Lucemon tapped his chin thoughtfully, fixing the old Demon Lord with a piercing stare. "You would advise this Council divide the work to be done evenly, instead of using a method that would be far surer to succeed? What possible reason could we have to weaken the strength of our assault?"

The rest of the Demon Lords waited with bated breath; most of them were puzzled at Barbamon's odd advice, but the more bloodthirsty members present—namely, Beelzemon and Leviamon—seemed to find the idea somewhat appealing. After all, a good fight was certainly worth a little risk to them.

Barbamon paused, barely, before replying, "Yes. I would." Gesturing with his staff to the dancing images in the stone basin, he continued, "After all, what possible threat could these small groups of children pose to us, the Great Demon Lords?" _'Quite a lot, actually, and it would take a fool not to see it,'_ Barbamon answered himself grimly. Of course, it was necessary to further his plans; this was just too perfect an opportunity…too perfect a distraction…

Lucemon stood silently, gazing into the basin. A moment later, however, he smiled thinly. "Yes…why not?" he said aloud. "This could be quite delightful…"

Barbamon went so far as to blink. Surely it wouldn't be that easy? Any villain of their supposed caliber could see that his suggestion was a sure course to destruction, and Barbamon knew that Lucemon was usually too cunning to fall into that trap. His suggestion had been made out of necessity (or perhaps out of convenience, he thought to himself, but it mattered not in the long run), and he had been prepared for the notion to be shot down immediately, but this…?

The Demon Lord's eyes narrowed infinitesimally. _'Lucemon…what are _you_ up to? I'm the one plotting here, but it almost seems as though you're using my suggestion to your own advantage…'_

The rest of the Demon Lords hardly worried Barbamon—Belphemon was the only other Digimon present who had any mentionable intellect, at least compared to Barbamon, and the little Demon Lord was usually too lazy to show it—but Lucemon…better to trust a scorpion to pass you by un-stung than to trust Lucemon to allow someone else to gain the upper hand. If there were any active plots here other than Barbamon's, they were surely the fallen angel's.

Best to tread carefully, Barbamon decided grimly.

Ignorant of Barbamon's internal dialogue—or, perhaps, not so ignorant—Lucemon continued in a light tone, "This is something of an occasion, I believe. For years, we have watched the Digi-Destined destroy countless Dark Digimon in their attempts to gain control of the worlds. We have observed their movements, their personalities, their interactions with each other, and their victories. Now, we have the chance to use that knowledge to destroy them; they are in a susceptible position, and it will be an easy task." His smile widening, Lucemon continued, "Why not enjoy this chance while we can?" Spreading his arms to gesture towards the stone basin, the leader of the Demon Lords said, in a congenial tone, "Pick your victims and take them as you please."

Beelzemon nodded, grimly pleased, and Leviamon thumped his massive tail against the ground in agreement, shaking loose clouds of dust from the ceiling. Lilithmon inclined her head, her dark eyes glittering maliciously, and Belphemon actually roused himself enough to chime in, "Oh, I already have some wonderful ideas…" before yawning widely.

Lucemon and Barbamon remained silent. They didn't look each other in the eye—that would be too much of a giveaway—but Barbamon could almost _feel_ Lucemon's smugness. The fallen angel knew that he was puzzling Barbamon, and he was practically gloating. Of course, knowing Lucemon, the relatively obvious display of pleasure might be yet another subtle part of his plans; the fallen angel could be seething at the moment, and Barbamon probably wouldn't have been able to tell.

Enter the life of a Great Demon Lord; some of the greatest actors in the Dark Area were gathered in this chamber.

Bringing his arms back to his side, Lucemon said, "If there is any other business to be discussed…?" Receiving no immediate response, he continued, "Then I pronounce this session of the Council adjourned." Smiling coldly, the fallen angel added, "Feel free to plan your little traps and games to put these children through. Just make sure they are…effective."

Malevolent chuckles resounded against the stone walls of the chamber. 'Effective' was the word they used when they meant 'as efficient in causing pain and suffering as possible'.

The Council of the Great Demon Lords slowly dispersed. Leviamon disappeared beneath the surface of his pool, no doubt on his way to his little swamp. Beelzemon strode out the chamber's arched entrance swiftly; he never lingered after a meeting. He was soon followed by Lilithmon, who appeared to glide across the stone tiles in her dress, and Barbamon. Glancing back, the elder Demon Lord observed Belphemon and Lucemon conversing congenially; perhaps about the tortures they intended to put the humans through. For a moment, he could have sworn that Lucemon's eyes had flickered toward him, but Barbamon ignored it, focusing on his own plans.

So many plots and shadows being woven, so many things to be kept track of…it was enough to make lesser minds break. As it was, Barbamon waited until he was above ground before scowling darkly. What _was_ Lucemon up to? His were never simple, harmless schemes. No, Lucemon preferred layers upon layers…it was one of his most reliable character traits. The fallen angel was the most patient of the Demon Lords—which really wasn't all that difficult to be, if you discounted Belphemon's laziness—and he could wait years for some obscure stratagem to fully unfold.

And he certainly had something in mind now.

Sighing, Barbamon considered the situation. He himself was close to achieving his own goals. A few more days, at most, and he would be able to cast off their useless Council…and he would stand alone, for eternity.

The thought brought a little energy back to the Demon Lord's stride. Now, putting aside his own plans, Barbamon's mind turned to the humans and their partners.

The Digi-Destined and the Tamers could be quite…relaxing. It had been a long time since Barbamon had employed his vast intellect against an opponent outside the Council. Now that the opportunity had truly presented itself, Barbamon intended to pluck it like a ripe apple right of the tree.

Lucemon had been right about one thing, Barbamon decided as he chuckled darkly. This _could_ be quite delightful…

XxXxX

A/N: Questions? Comments? Bring them to me. Problems…take them out to the trash man, because everyone else has their fill of problems. That's called life.

Seriously, though, review if you want to speak your mind; the point of posting this on the Internet is twofold. One, to give you, my readers, the opportunity to read my hard work (go ahead, start laughing); and two, for me to get feedback on my performance.

I had Alphamon give a partial Kingdom Hearts reference. See if you can find it…

Special thanks, as always, to my Beta Plasmasphere. More thanks to my reviewers, whose positive comments and constructive criticism helps give me incentive to write faster. Hint hint

Till next time, then.


	7. A Long Way From Home

Disclaimer:

Yamaki stands on the stage of the theater, holding a golden statuette and a heavily embossed envelope. Opening the envelope, the director of Hypnos says dramatically, "And the award goes to…"

The crowd hushes in almost tangible anticipation, hanging onto Yamaki's every word.

"…Nolaquen265!"

The crowd cheers, and Nolaquen stands up from his front row seat to make his way to the stage.

As Yamaki hands Nolaquen the Golden Digi-Egg and the microphone, the author wipes a tear of happiness from his eye. "I'd just like to thank everyone who nominated me for this award…" Sniffling, Nolaquen continues in a strident tone, "I promise that I will make every bit of my writing as enjoyable to all my readers as possible, to do justice to Toei for allowing me to write Digimon as if it were my own, and to end global hunger!"

The crowd is on its feet, cheering madly, with the Digi-Destined, Tamers, and their partners in the front row clapping the hardest, inordinately pleased at their employer's success.

Nolaquen's wide smile then turns into an absolutely _evil_ smirk, and his eyes glint with the dancing light of complete lunacy that stops the audience dead in its tracks, terrifying them into immediate, total silence.

"…of course, that first resolution doesn't necessarily apply to the fic's characters…"

The cast's jaws drop in dread as they realize what they're in for. Without further warning, Barney the Dinosaur hops onto the stage from the side wings and begins to sing…

"No, we're not going there," Nolaquen interrupts sternly, pulling out a lightsaber. Activating the golden blade, the author then proceeds to dice the stuffed costume—and the poor, poor actor inside—into neat little pieces. "I _do _have a reputation to uphold, after all…"

"Instead, I think we'll treat my actors—and the rest of the audience, who so kindly showed up—to an all-expense-paid vacation to…" Ryo groans and cringes. "…the Bahamas!"

The cast blinks, then look at each in uncertainty; the rest of the audience is simply confused. Noticing the suspicion of the former group, Nolaquen adds, "Your flight course will take you through the Bermuda Triangle, and your fellow passengers aboard the plane will be…"

_"…Facehuggers!"_ Nolaquen yells gleefully, pulling a remote out of his pocket and pressing the big, red button labeled 'Do Not Push!'

The massive crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling explodes as Alien Facehuggers rain down on the suddenly screaming, panicking audience.

Another press of the button, and both the audience and the Facehuggers are transported aboard a large airliner, which immediately sets course for the Bermuda Triangle.

"It's like 'Snakes On A Plane', to the nth degree!" Nolaquen cackles insanely, throwing his arms out wide to embrace the whole scene. Yamaki raises an eyebrow and says, "You've never even seen that movie."

Shrugging casually, Nolaquen walks off stage, twirling his lightsaber around and around, making cool humming noises. "Same concept, I'm sure."

Yamaki stares out at the empty theater behind his sunglasses…and shakes his head. Following the deranged author and award-receiver off the stage, he kills the lights, and everything goes dark.

A/N: To quote the online comic 'Dork Tower': "There's no saving throw so good it can't be ruined with a botched sanity check." If you doubt that I'm _really_ that crazy, just ask Plasmasphere. Oh, and I don't own 'Dork Tower'. ;)

Just as a reminder, if you run into a Digimon you don't immediately recognize, check Wikipedia or TheDigiPort. Hopefully, they'll have pictures and other relevant data to jog your memory, or (if you've never heard of it before) expand your knowledge of the Digital Universe. I'll point out any original Digimon as they appear in the ending author's notes…

Standard thanks to Plasmasphere, yada yada yada…and, begin!

XxXxX

**Chapter Seven: A Long Way From Home**

XxXxX

/By the Digital Lake. Friday, June 25th, 2004. 2:00 p.m./

Takato lay back on the green grass of the lake's shore, soaking up the radiant sunlight. His clothes—the jeans, blue shirt, and black windbreaker—were nearly dry, but he was too comfortable to bother moving yet.

Too bad Rika had other ideas.

"Move it or lose it, Gogglehead," the redheaded Tamer said, nudging Takato in the side with her tennis shoes. Takato cracked open an eyelid, half-glaring up at his friend.

"What's the big rush?" he asked as he reluctantly sat up. "We're about to start on another big adventure in the Digital World. Why don't we take a few minutes and enjoy this moment…?"

"Because sitting next to a lake in a strange DigiWorld doing absolutely nothing isn't my idea of a good time," Rika replied in a slightly irritated tone. "I'd rather find out what the area around here is like, and what we might run into while we're looking for a True Portal."

"Uh huh…" Takato answered vaguely as he stood up. Once on his feet, the brown haired Tamer turned a full three hundred and sixty degrees slowly, taking in their surroundings.

After landing in the lake, he and his group had swum to the shore, sprawling out on the grass to let their clothes—or fur, if you were a Digimon—dry. Now, Kazu and Davis seemed to be in a deep discussion, with their partners and Guilmon looking on in interest. Mimi and Palmon stood next to them, wringing out the last few drops of water out of the DigiDestined's ankle-length skirt. Every few moments, Mimi would run a hand through her tangled brown hair, a scowl on her face.

As for the environment…Takato could see deciduous green trees all around the lake; the tree line started about twenty feet from the water's edge. From the looks of it, they were in the middle of a large forest. In the distance, Takato could make out a few green hills poking their heads above the trees, but, beyond that, it seemed that they were in the middle of a small basin, surrounded by the knolls. Overhead, white, fluffy clouds floated aimlessly across a deep blue sky. All in all, it was pretty enough for a picture, and it helped put another surge of excitement through the Tamer. It was perfect for a fresh adventure, Takato decided, somewhat pleased at the turn of events.

"Earth to Gogglehead," Rika said loudly, waving a hand in front of Takato's face. "Stop ignoring me and help get everyone else moving." Without another comment, she turned on her heel and started walking away, her amethyst eyes sweeping across the trees intently.

Takato shook himself from his study of the area and murmured to himself, "Right…well, I guess I'll follow you, then…" Shaking his head at his friend's impatience, he started towards the other members of the group, grimacing at the _squish, squish_ of water in his shoes. Well, that was nothing a little walking wouldn't take care of…

Now that he was close enough, he could hear what Kazu and Davis were talking about…

"…dude, I could be the best sidekick ever! You, me, Guardromon, and Veemon, we'd _rock!_ We could go far together, you and me…"

"Well, if you really think we'd be that awesome…"

…and then wished he hadn't, if only to save himself the temporary embarrassment of being associated with Kazu. Davis and Veemon seemed _that_ far away from preening under Kazu's attention, while Mimi and Palmon looked on, mystified. Rika snorted as she caught the tail end of the conversation, and brought an abrupt end to it by knocking Kazu's skull with her fist.

"Okay, Kazu, the 'Fanatic Fan-Boy' persona has _got_ to go. The next thing we know, you'll be getting a cheap costume…"

"Yes ma'am," Kazu replied meekly, rubbing the fresh lump on his head tenderly.

Takato chuckled. Rika was one of the few people who could successfully drag Kazu back to reality once he really got going. Probably because she was so willing to resort to physical violence to bring him to his senses.

Shaking his head, Takato glanced around at their group, quickly noticing the absent member. "Where's Renamon?"

"I'm right here," Renamon replied casually as she abruptly materialized out of thin air behind Takato.

Anyone who knows Takato well enough by now will probably be able to predict his reaction.

_"GAAAHHH!"_

Now on his backside on the grass, Takato glared up at the yellow kitsune, clutching a hand to his chest. "_Renamon!_ You're gonna give me a heart attack! You've gotta stop doing that!"

"My apologies," Renamon answered impassively, not sounding apologetic in the least. "I was scouting the area. We seem to be in the middle of a large forest…"

"Gee, I could have told you that…" Takato muttered as Davis and Guilmon pulled him to his feet.

"…and it appears to go on for miles," Renamon continued, ignoring Takato's comment. "I'm reasonably sure this is a Digital World, but I haven't seen any Digimon. I only covered about a square mile, though, so there might be others in the area, regardless."

Palmon blinked. "A square mile? We've only been here for about five minutes! I didn't even notice you leave!"

Rika grinned smugly. "Renamon's good at what she does." The kitsune simply nodded, although a trace of a smile flashed across her face.

Shaking his head, Davis spoke up. "Well, what now? Do we head out, and start looking for our way back home, or what?"

"I vote for going now," Mimi said, running a hand through her hair. "The sooner we get back to civilization, the better. I need to get a hairbrush soon, or my hair will be all knotted and lank by the time we get back…"

Rolling her eyes in exasperation, Rika said, "Right, let's go. We wouldn't want that to happen, now would we…?"

Mimi cocked her head and frowned slightly, still tugging at several locks of hair absentmindedly. "What? Don't _you_ care about _your_ hair?"

"Loosen up a little," Palmon said, shaking her petal hair to emphasize her point.

Receiving an incredulous look from the redhead in response, Mimi sighed. "I know, I know. I've been trying _so_ hard to stop worrying about my appearance, but…it's important to me…" Shrugging, the DigiDestined continued cheerfully, flashing her fingers in a 'V for victory sign', "I suppose I'm just fated to be beautiful!"

Rika just groaned silently, while Renamon smiled surreptitiously.

Takato, Kazu, and Davis traded covert looks of puzzlement. They each thought roughly the same thing: _no man ever really understands women, no matter how hard he tries._

XxXxX

/The Digi-Village. 2:09 p.m./

"Well, the locals are friendly enough," Armadillomon commented as their feet slapped against the cobblestones of the street. Several Floramon and Mushroomon waved from a small restaurant, while a number of adorable bouncing Reremon giggled loudly and hopped past the small group.

The Tamers and DigiDestined present nodded in response to Armadillomon's statement; the local Digimon _did_ seem quite friendly, even if they got a few curious looks. There was no telling whether any of them had seen humans before, but, regardless, they all seemed content to give a cheerful greeting and continue on about their business. All in all, with the quaint air and feel of a remote village in the country, the setting was quite enjoyable. Still, they'd come to the town for information, not a vacation.

Izzy, observing their surroundings closely, mused aloud, "I wonder where we'd find someone willing to sit down and answer some of our questions…?"

"You're in the market for information?"

The unexpected response made the redhead jump in surprise, and the crew turned to face the speaker. It was, surprisingly…

…a Keramon.

The sinuous Digimon, resembling a light blue jellyfish in some ways, was standing on a number of tentacles next to a small vending cart. Although, standing hardly seemed the word. The Rookie was weaving sideways, up, and down continuously, never holding still. Its large eyes were focused on the group, while a wide grin split its face.

The DigiDestined and their partners flinched in surprise; their previous dealings with Keramon and their evolutionary line were uncomfortable at best.

When the group made no immediate answer, the Keramon said, "If you've got questions, then I've got answers! No one knows this area of the Digital World and its inhabitants like I do! So, I take my knowledge and make it my living." Gesturing towards the vending cart with one spindly arm, he continued, "If you're looking for even the most obscure bit of information, I'm the best person to ask."

"Is that so?" Ryo asked, studying the Digimon. "Well, we're new in town, and we were curious about the goings on…"

"Ah, so you're in the market for gossip!" Keramon exclaimed merrily. Leaping nimbly behind his cart, which stood about waist level for the human teens, the Rookie leaned over the counter and murmured conspiratorially, "Well, there's been some interesting activity up at the castle. Rumor says that a strange Digimon appeared in the area, and he's been in a private meeting with the Queen ever since!" Winking companionably, the Rookie added, "That was just an incentive. If you want more details, or if you want to hear about something else, it'll cost a little more than my breath and your time…"

Yolei shook her head in response. "I'm pretty sure we aren't interested, thanks. We were more curious about the area."

Grinning even more widely, the Keramon said, "Well, you're in luck! I know everything about the village and the countryside there is to know! From the hidden springs in the grove down south, to the secret passageways leading into the castle's dungeons…I know it all!"

"What castle?" Mako asked, his attention caught by the Rookie's spiel.

Keramon gestured down the road. "The Queen's castle, up north. Just follow the road past the first hill beyond the town's walls. You can't miss it." The Rookie then frowned. "Hmm. I gave that information out for free. I must need a snack to get my brain back on track…"

"Well, have you ever heard anything about True Portals?" Tentomon asked, hovering at Izzy's side.

Keramon tapped his chin thoughtfully. "True Portals? Hmm…I don't believe I've ever heard of them. Portals, eh? Well, if you're looking for an area that'll take you somewhere else in an instant, however…I'd say those secret springs in the grove south of the town are your best shot. Of course," the Rookie added with a grin, "finding the trick to making the springs work that way is quite difficult. Naturally, I could sell you that information for a low, low price and save you a lot of time…"

The Rookie trailed off as his eyes shifted up the cobblestone street. A little ways away, and coming down the street, was an assembly of the PawnChessmon the group had spied from the hilltop earlier, marching in neat formation.

Keramon frowned and began muttering under his breath. His facial expression was mirrored by a number of nearby villagers, once they spotted the chess-based Digimon coming down the street. Noticing their discomfiture, and remembering the wary reactions they had observed earlier, Ryo asked, "What's the deal with the PawnChessmon?"

Keramon looked back at the Tamer. "Well, the PawnChessmon are the foot soldiers of the Queen. They patrol the town and surrounding area, looking for trouble. They don't normally find any, so they tend to…make some of their own when they're bored. It's been pretty quiet lately, but that doesn't usually last more than a few days. Seems there're a couple of fights every week now…"

Ken raised an eyebrow. "This is the queen you mentioned earlier?" Glancing up the road, the redhead continued, "If the PawnChessmon are her soldiers, would I be right in guessing that she's a…?"

"QueenChessmon. Yeah, that's right." Keramon replied. "Technically, KingChessmon's the ruler of the land, but the Queen's a bit more…forceful. She's got something of a reputation, actually." The Rookie twirled a long finger around his temple and winked. "More than a little paranoid, and definitely a few cards short of a full deck. You didn't hear that from me, though." Keramon then winced, and put a hand to his head dramatically. "Boy, I've been giving out useful information like candy, and in casual conversation no less! I need to close up shop, before I give away my whole stock. Maybe I'll go pump some of my sources for any new info about that Digimon up at the castle…" Shaking his head, the Rookie began pushing his vending cart down the road, away from the approaching PawnChessmon, leaving the DigiDestined and Tamers standing in the street, bewildered.

"Well, he was a character," Ryo commented when the Keramon disappeared around a corner. Cyberdramon grunted in agreement before turning his attention to the approaching PawnChessmon. Something smelled _off_ to the Ultimate. The armored Rookies seemed a little too…intense for a simple patrol, both to the eyes and nose. The locals appeared to notice something strange too, as they began clearing the street rapidly, darting into side streets and buildings. The DigiDestined and Tamers weren't paying any attention, though.

"Well, we learned some interesting things," Izzy commented, oblivious to the rapidly emptying area. "First, a strange Digimon recently appeared in the area. I suppose that could be one of our friends…but, anyway, we also learned that there's something of a gateway to the south, and if we check our Digivices…yes, it looks like a True Portal is in that direction," he finished, looking at the flashing arrow on his new D-3.

"We may have to talk to that Keramon again, if what he said about there being a trick to using them is true…" Mako added, putting his hands in his pockets.

"Ryo," Cyberdramon growled suddenly, clicking his claws together menacingly.

The Tamer looked up in concern; when Cyberdramon spoke in that tone, it meant trouble. "What's up?"

Cyberdramon growled deep in his throat and gestured up the street. Nearly all the local Digimon had vanished, leaving the formation of PawnChessmon with a clear path to the group.

Ryo blinked, then began fingering the Modify Cards in his pocket. "Uh, guys? We might have some trouble headed our way…"

The situation was now glaringly obvious. The townspeople had cleared out, leaving a squad of Digimon headed straight for them. On the other hand, twelve Rookies could hardly be considered a threat…

_Clop, clop, clop, clop…_

The situation was quickly compounded into a real problem. Turning around at the unexpected noises, Ryo's eyes widened. Approaching from behind was six new Digimon, catching the humans and their partners between them and the PawnChessmon. Each of the newcomers appeared to be an armored centaur of sorts, almost mechanical in their motion and form; they even had wheels set behind their hoofs. Each of their right arms was encased in a large tube, like some kind of rocket launcher. Set in the front end of those launchers were thick, silvery lances; tapering to a point nearly five feet away from their visible base, it looked as though they would deal serious damage to whatever these Digimon decided was an obstacle.

Ryo grimaced as he pulled out his D-Arc. "Don't tell me…"

Yep. KnightChessmon, of the Champion level. So, that left Ryo and his friends caught between twelve Rookies and six Champions; ordinarily, not much of an issue. The problem was that these Digimon seemed trained for battle, and it was unlikely that they would be able to run without being closely pursued. Fighting wasn't a very desirable option; even though they probably had the strength to win if it came to that, Ryo immediately decided that any aggressive action taken against the local powers would make their departure from this world extremely difficult. Not to mention the possible collateral damage to the town. The Tamer could see the same conclusion on the faces of his friends, whose stances were understandably tense.

What to do?

Ryo was mulling this over when the lead KnightChessmon, who was a shiny white, came to a stop and said, in a tinny, yet deep voice, "By the order of the rulers of this realm, you are to be arrested and tried for dissension, rebellion, and plotting to do bodily harm to said rulers of the realm."

Yolei stared at the Champion, nonplussed. _'What in the…?' _"But…we just got here! And we haven't even _thought_ of doing anything like that!"

"Irrelevant," the KnightChessmon replied calmly, lowering his right arm—and the lance launcher along with it—to point directly at the group. "The order has been given, and it will be carried out. We will escort you to the castle, where you will be tried and found guilty, and then sentenced to spend the remainder of your lives in the dungeons."

"Gee, _that's_ a great justice system!" Tentomon burst out. "Our sentence has already been decided! How convenient…"

Izzy's eye twitched as his impressive intellectual facility processed the situation at break-neck pace. They had arrived in this Digital World no more than twenty minutes ago, had had minimal contact with the locals, and yet they had already been tried and found guilty of charges that seemed to have appeared out of thin air! And all for no apparent reason…

Something clicked in Izzy's memory. What the Keramon information broker had mentioned, right before he had gone on to answer their questions about the town and the castle…

Snapping his fingers, Izzy exclaimed, "That's it!" At the bewildered glances he got from the others, he explained quickly, "We heard about a strange Digimon appearing recently, and then that he—or she—was taken to the Queen, and that they'd been speaking privately since then!"

"A Demon Lord, then?" Ken asked, frowning. Izzy nodded in response while Ryo pursed his lips thoughtfully.

"Some of the Demon Lords are supposed to be rather devious," the Tamer said, glancing warily at the groups of Digimon on both of their sides. "It wouldn't surprise me if one of them was somehow able to manipulate this Queen into doing something about us…especially if that Keramon was right about her being a little paranoid…"

"Silence!" the lead KnightChessmon shouted, and the rest of his companions also lowered their lance launchers. On the other side, the twelve PawnChessmon brought their short spears to bear. Even if they didn't do much damage to the Digimon, even a Rookie's attack could be dangerous to a human…

"You will be brought before the rulers of this realm now, with no more delays! Any resistance will be met with lethal force!"

"Nuts," Cody muttered sarcastically. "There goes that option…"

Cyberdramon didn't seem to think so. In an instant, the draconic Ultimate snarled loudly, reached out with an unbelievable speed…and grabbed the back of Mako's shirt.

In the next half second it took for the nonplussed group to take this in, Cyberdramon powerfully launched himself into the air, carrying a greatly distressed Mako with him, trailing the boy's supremely startled yells behind him. About half of the KnightChessmon raised their right arms—and their weapons with them—to track the Ultimate's flight course, but by the time they were ready, Cyberdramon and Mako had disappeared beyond the village's edge; the pair quickly became a dark blot against the sky, heading for the nearby forest.

Ryo, the DigiDestined, and their remaining partners stared after them, utterly dumbstruck; Ryo perhaps even more so. It was so unlike Cyberdramon to run from a fight…

And his taking Mako along for the ride? Where on earth had _that_ come from?

The KnightChessmon and PawnChessmon weren't as easily distracted. In the next moment, the group was completely surrounded in a tight ring of spears and lances. Ryo winced as the lead KnightChessmon's weapon was pressed into the skin of his cheek, but he refused to budge.

"You will come with us at once," they were told in a completely even tone, "Any more opposition will be met with immediate retaliation. Resistance is futile."

As the group was marched out of the town, Ryo thought furiously, _"Cyberdramon…what are you thinking?"_

xxxxx

/The Queen's Castle. 2:18 p.m./

Belphemon chuckled quietly as he considered the results of his little game. He had watched the events transpiring in town through a clever little device he had come up with years ago; the modified mirror wasn't quite as effective as Lucemon's great pet eyeball, but it had its uses. Stifling a yawn, the diminutive Demon Lord turned to his companion.

QueenChessmon cut quite an impressive figure, really. She was covered in formfitting armor so dark gray it was nearly black—along with a few pieces of pink armor on the chest and shoulders—and wore a flowing pink cape of the finest silk. Completing the outfit was a pink tiara, set atop her golden facemask and helmet. At nearly twelve feet tall, she towered over Belphemon, even seated in her throne.

Of course, she only _appeared_ formidable. Once you got past the intimidating armor—and her croquet stick weapon, the Queen Stick, which was really quite laughable—the Queen was like putty in Belphemon's little hands. It had taken less than ten minutes for the Demon Lord to peg her: absolutely nuts, in base terms.

And so paranoid of losing her throne and her power that she had jumped at the chance to seize Belphemon's so-called 'rebels'. Really, it was all too easy. Like putting a pile of meat into the street and loosing a rabid dog onto it; it all went in easily predicable straight lines.

It truly wasn't all that fun in its simplicity, but it certainly set the stage for some entertaining ideas for later. What to do with the DigiDestined and their friends once they were in the dungeons…? Belphemon nearly purred as multiple fiendish ideas flowed through his mind at speeds that would astonish anyone foolish enough to take his current physical form as evidence of his intellectual capacities.

Oh, so foolish…

"I am _so_ glad that my information helped you capture these dissidents, my Queen," Belphemon said politely, in a tone so oily and sickly sweet that Veemon—who was renowned even among the Digimon for what he was willing to eat—would have gagged.

QueenChessmon regally tossed her hair with an armored hand. "I am simply pleased that, thanks to you, we were able to take them into custody before they were able to do any harm to my kingdom." Really, it wasn't her kingdom, per say. She ruled it jointly with KingChessmon, but the little Mega monarch was probably running around happily in his expansive gardens; the term 'out of sight, out of mind' seemed to apply specifically to the little king. From his thirty second glimpse of the Digimon, Belphemon had realized that KingChessmon probably didn't know the first thing about buttering his bread, much less ruling a kingdom.

Which left him with QueenChessmon, which wasn't so bad a deal when it came to manipulations.

"Of course, my Queen, of course." The Demon Lord paused briefly. "…however, I find it highly likely that these troublemakers will attempt to escape from their captivity," Belphemon continued slowly, losing _just_ so much of the simpering, fawning tone in order to fully convey the seriousness of the possibility—this sort of thing was really an art, once you came to think about it—and then said, "If they managed such an escape attempt, I would wager that they would rally support from the outside, and your castle would soon be under attack by lawless rebels." _That_ should get her going…

It did. The Queen's cool demeanor vanished, and the lunacy that replaced it was almost visible in the way she trembled all over, and in the way her hand tightly clutched the shaft of the Queen Stick. _"I WILL NOT ALLOW THAT TO HAPPEN!"_ Hefting the weapon with a bellow, the monarch swiftly brought it down on the ground next to her throne in a fit of rage. With a loud _CRACK!,_ nearly four square feet of tile disintegrated into nearly-microscopic particles, which floated away in the swift breeze generated by the rapid movement of the weapon.

Maybe the Queen Stick wasn't so laughable after all…

Stifling another yawn instinctively, Belphemon put on a soothing smile. "There, there, your Majesty. If you were to give me access to the dungeons and the surrounding catacombs, I could easily prevent such an escape from succeeding. Such toys I could install…At the very least, we could amuse ourselves watching them run, terrified, through a lethal labyrinth…"

The Queen's hostility vanished as quickly as it had come—another testament to her amusing little madness—and she said, in a pleased tone, "I will see that you have all the resources necessary for such an undertaking, my dear. Anything I have is yours, anything at all…" Frowning, the monarch muttered to herself, "Now where are my servants? We must have the best wine to celebrate such an occasion…"

And throughout it all, she hadn't remembered that Belphemon, a complete stranger with power easily matching her own, had simply turned up on her doorstep not fifteen minutes ago, claiming grave tidings of rebellion and danger.

Delicious.

XxXxX

/Tokyo. 2:23 p.m./

Henry rubbed his neck thoughtfully as he observed the children running around on the playground. They seemed completely carefree and happy, with nothing on their minds besides the fun at hand. To them, events were limited to what their senses could tell them, and their responses to what they had been trained to do: eat the food set before you (and don't throw it), be nice to your sister, don't hit the weedy kid with the glasses…

Shaking his head bemusedly, Henry half-decided to classify childhood as an unnatural phenomenon, completely out of place in the universe. Real life simply wasn't that simple.

As his and his friends' current situation testified. They had been picked up out of their normal lives and thrown into another version of their home. It was enough to set any philosopher's brain on fire, much less Henry's. The possibilities of what _could be _in this world were overwhelming. Had America even succeeded in breaking away from England and forming its own country? Had the Allies won World War II? Had the Communists ultimately failed in their bid for supremacy? Was that cute, blonde, ditzy cheerleader—the one who wore the short, short skirts—still in Henry's grade?

_'…okay, maybe that last one wasn't so relevant,'_ Henry amended, grimacing. It seemed that Terriermon's frequent innuendo was finally getting to him…

"Penny for your thoughts?" T.K. asked, an eyebrow slightly raised at Henry's facial expression.

Smoothing his face over (and attempting to banish the mental image of Terriermon laughing uproariously at his partner's newfound misgivings for his sanity), Henry replied with a small grin, "Just thinking about how weird this whole thing is. I mean, there's no way to tell how different this world is from our own…"

"True," T.K. conceded, shifting his attention to the nearby playground. As he watched the children laugh and shout as they ran around, the blond grinned, and said thoughtfully, "But, you know what? I think that, in all the ways that matter, we've got a lot in common with this place already."

Henry chuckled. "That sounds just like something you'd hear in the show…" Realizing what he'd just said, the Tamer grimaced again and added apologetically, "Sorry. I suppose I'm still getting used to this."

T.K. shrugged and waved a hand in dismissal. "No big deal. It's _only_ horribly embarrassing and disconcerting to know that a whole world knows so much about everything we've done in the past. After all, I can easily come up with a few moments I'd prefer to keep from the general public, and, short of asking one of you guys, I have no way to know if any of you have any knowledge of some of those things."

Henry put a hand to his face, which was flushed in embarrassment. He jumped slightly when T.K. put a friendly hand on his shoulder. The blond grinned and continued, "But I guess that doesn't really matter much. After all, everyone's getting along well, and the work we've done together so far requires a little bit of familiarity with one another. Besides," T.K. added, a mischievous smirk lurking behind his smile, "you don't know everything about us. I'm willing to wager you've never even _heard_ about the time that DemiVeemon and Poromon raided the Inoue's convenience store. I swear, I have _never_ seen DemiVeemon that hyper before…I thought he'd jump straight to Mega all by himself with all that energy."

Despite himself, Henry snorted, then laughed aloud as he realized he could envision the scene quite clearly. T.K. joined him in his laughter, and the two only quieted when some of the children on the playground began to take notice of the teens.

Wiping tears of mirth from his eyes, T.K. said, "Well, let's keep walking, and see if we can find out exactly where we are."

"Right," Henry agreed, still holding back chuckles. Once he'd regained control, the Tamer motioned down the sidewalk. "Let's start that way."

T.K. nodded, and the two set out, exploring the park. It seemed normal by any standards the two could come up with; there were trees, bushes, green grass, sidewalks, benches, and people, just like one would expect to find in your typical park. It also quickly became clear that they _were_ in a version of Tokyo, thanks to a discarded newspaper T.K. picked up from the ground.

"Hmm…Friday, June 25th, 2004…that's right," the blond said as he perused the paper, with Henry looking over his shoulder. "…well, it looks like the newspaper, at least, is the same as in my world."

"Mine too," Henry said, taking a page of advertisements from the blond. "…huh. I suppose I should have expected this."

"What?"

The Tamer tapped a finger to a particular ad. "Read this."

T.K. raised a questioning eyebrow, but began reading the ad aloud. "'For Sale: Deluxe …Digimon Trading Cards." The other eyebrow joined the first, rising above T.K.'s hairline.

"It seems Digimon is a popular franchise here, too," Henry said, scanning over the rest of the page. "This particular section seems to deal exclusively with anime merchandise, and almost a quarter of it is Digimon-related." Eyeing the newspaper speculatively, the Tamer added, "I think it's even more popular in this Tokyo than it is back at _my_ home."

T.K. gave a low whistle. "What's the merchandise based off of? If it's the same situation as in your world, then…"

"You, Kari, and Joe could be recognized pretty quickly, if it all started with the show I'm familiar with," Henry finished grimly. He turned his attention back to the newspaper ads, saying absently, "Maybe visiting other worlds like this isn't a bad thing, but it's sure to cause a lot of chaos if word gets around. From the looks of things, this world only seems to be aware of the Digimon franchise, and not of the reality."

"So, you're saying that you don't think the mainstream here knows about real Digimon?"

"Exactly. And I'd prefer to keep it that way, if that's the case. The consequences could be pretty major," Henry said, pursing his lips thoughtfully. The Tamer was silent for a moment before he said, "Take a look at this ad, here," pointing out the text.

T.K.'s eyes roamed over the words above Henry's finger, reading the ad silently to himself. "…'Digimon Holo Tournament'? What could that be?"

"'Holo' could be short for 'hologram', I guess," Henry responded. "That may be one major difference between our worlds. We certainly don't have that sort of technology, yet."

"The same back in Odaiba," T.K. concurred. "A holographic tournament, huh? Would that be played with the cards, do you think?"

Henry considered the idea. "It doesn't sound too farfetched to me. If you have a popular card game, the next step up from playing on a mat would be 3-D projections of the cards and the action. Unless it's role-playing or strategy based…in which case, there would probably be a huge online game to support it…"

"Wow."

Henry considered the rest of the page before folding it up and tossing it in a nearby trashcan. "Well, this adds an interesting twist to things. We can't go out in public until we find out whether or not you DigiDestined will be recognized."

T.K. scratched the back of his head as he stared off into the trees surrounding the small sidewalk they were standing on. "Then we probably need to get back together with Kari, Joe, and Jeri. If there's a chance of that happening, then we should definitely stay out of sight for a while, and I doubt they know this stuff yet."

"Right. They said they wouldn't stray too far from where we first landed, so we might as well start back there."

The two teens began jogging back along the sidewalk, keeping a close eye out for anyone coming in their direction. The park seemed fairly quiet, however, and they didn't see anyone close enough to bear any concern. They were nearing the secluded group of trees where they had first appeared when the next turning point of the day occurred.

The sidewalk had separated, curving sharply to both the right and the left, in order to wrap around a small copse of Weeping Sakura trees, which stood on a slightly elevated hill; as it was, Henry and T.K. turned right. Why do we care? Because it really _did_ make a difference.

Three seconds down the sidewalk, shaded by the shadows cast by branches above their heads, the two teens were literally bowled over. The cause of this collision? A teenaged girl with brown hair, who, before said collision with Henry and T.K., had been flying down the sidewalk as though her feet were on fire.

The three teens lay sprawled across the sidewalk, dazed. Henry was the first to regain clear, conscious thought. Straightening, the Tamer quickly got to his feet and walked over to the girl, offering a hand up. The girl took it gratefully, while pushing herself up off the sidewalk's stone with her other hand.

Henry, always the quick thinker, immediately took notice of her…unusual attire. The blue jeans were normal enough, but the dark green shirt…to be honest, Henry couldn't tell whether it was supposed to be long-sleeved or short. The right sleeve stretched to the girl's wrist, but the left stopped short above her left elbow. The result was a confusing garment that left one unable to tell whether it was supposed to be a T-shirt or long-sleeved.

Adding to the peculiarity of the girl's fashion statement was the verdant green overcoat. Seemingly made of thin, mildly bright green cloth, it draped around her slender body quite nicely—Henry nearly flushed at _that _particular observation—although the color was…disconcerting to the first glance. Aside from the high collar, which was turned up so that it nearly brushed the girl's ears, the only other visible feature were the two deep pockets on the sides.

The next oddity was the watch on her left hand. It appeared to be more of an electronic bracer, as it stretched halfway to her elbow—which might have explained the short left sleeve of the girl's shirt. The bracer had a screen in the normal watch position—right next to the girl's wrist—while a number of flat, rectangular buttons studded the surface to the left.

But what really caught Henry's immediate attention were…the goggles.

Yes. The goggles. A pair of goggles with dark blue, circular rims and dark lenses were hanging around the girl's neck.

Henry stared at the eye gear bemusedly as the girl quickly brushed off her clothing. _'Boy, if this isn't proof that that the DigiDestined's adventures are a TV show here, I don't know _what_ is. Only Tai or Davis could have inspired a fashion trend like this. Well, maybe Takato, but…'_

Shaking his head to clear his mind, Henry started, "Sorry about that…"

"No, no, it was my fault," the girl interrupted, still focused on the dirt on her clothes. "I wasn't watching where I was going, I was in a hurry…"

She looked up and stopped dead. It was in that moment that Henry noticed another peculiarity; her right eye was a dark green—nearly matching the color of the overcoat—and her right was a smoky gray.

_'Heterochromia: a condition where one iris is a different color than the other. Looks like it might have been inherited…'_ Henry automatically recited to himself in his surprise. _'I wasn't expecting that. On the other hand, with the…odd fashion statement, I guess I shouldn't be so amazed…'_

In his own surprise, Henry hadn't noticed that the girl had suddenly stopped talking, so he continued, "Um, anyway, we're sorry about that…we should have been paying more attention…" Yeah, right. She'd come at them like a bat out of hell; any chance of avoiding her had disappeared about three seconds before their collision.

Which just happened to be the amount of time Henry and T.K. had been on the right path around the Sakura trees. Funny little coincidences like that make life interesting, don't they?

Henry, oblivious to this little fact, added, somewhat desperately, "Well, we'll see you around. Come on, T…J. T.J. Yeah, come on, T.J. We've got to be going…"

T.K., who had regained his feet several moments ago, rolled his eyes heavenward in silent vexation. The intentional mispronunciation of his name absolutely _smacked_ of Davis. Sure, the chances of him being recognized here were fairly high, if the situation was what they thought it was, but butchering a simple two letter name to avoid notice was so…lame.

The girl didn't notice. She simply stared at the two, absolutely silent. It took the two boys about three seconds to realize this, and another five seconds or so for the same thought to run through both of their minds.

_'Aw, nuts…'_

Licking her lips, the girl said slowly, "Are you real?"

Henry and T.K. shared a single distressed glance. _'Busted.'_

"Because…if you are…" The girl jerked suddenly, and in the next instant, she whirled around, staring back the way she came, a wild look on her pretty face. Then she turned back and stared over the boys' shoulders—the two absently noticed in their shock and anxiety that she was taller than average, matching both of them in height—before seizing the front of their shirts and beginning to drag them off the path, up the slight incline of the hill and into the copse of Sakura trees.

"If you both _are_ real…" she said over their stunned protests, "…then I can't let…anyone see you…it could reveal _everything_…"

"Wha…?" Henry managed before he was pushed behind a tree, out of sight from the sidewalk. T.K. was treated similarly; the blond was somewhat perturbed at being pushed around so strongly by a girl.

Glancing around warily, the mystery girl said in a rush, "My name's Ren. Ren Sato. Nice to meet you, I think."

"…uh, yeah. Nice to meet you, too…" T.K. answered, watching the girl carefully. Her behavior suggested that she had certainly recognized him, but her sudden interest in keeping them hidden didn't make sense.

Henry was thinking the same thing, and was coming up with a similar blank wall. "Well, I guess you…recognize…"

"Takeru Takaishi," Ren finished, nodding. T.K. sighed and shook his head. All he needed was for Patamon to show up and make things worse…

"…that's what I thought," Henry said, thinking furiously. There had to be a way out of this…maybe they could talk to her? Find out what she knew, and why she wanted to keep T.K.'s existence a secret? "…anyway, my name's…"

"Henry. Wong. I know you. And so do about half the kids in Tokyo." Ren seemed to have suddenly lost her urgent air; she had stated his name calmly, in a tone more fitting to casual conversation than their current situation probably called for. The abrupt change in attitude was unexpected, but she didn't even seem fazed, now.

Henry gave a start at her interruption…then came to a realization. "The Digimon TV show runs here, in this world, right?"

Ren nodded in response, her alarmingly mismatched eyes peering at the two intently. Next to her, T.K. seemed to have caught on. "There were more than two seasons in the show here? And they had different protagonists the third time around, or so?" the DigiDestined asked tentatively, ready to wince.

Receiving another nod, Henry laughed weakly, then glanced over at T.K. "You know, I think we're in the same boat, now."

T.K. echoed his feeble laugh before sprawling back onto the grass. Things had just gotten a _lot_ more complicated.

XxXxX

/The Digital Desert. 2:46 p.m./

"What do you see?"

"Sand."

"What else do you see?"

"More sand."

"…how about now?"

"…still more sand…"

Suzie pouted as Lopmon sighed in resigned exasperation. Still mimicking Henry and Terriermon's common pose, the chocolate-colored Digimon sat atop Suzie's head; this wasn't much of an issue for the girl, considering how tall she was. Tai still found it odd to know that the ten-year old girl stood as high as his shoulder; she simply didn't seem to have the usual maturity to complement her height. Not to say she _wasn't_ mature—in some ways, anyway—but she appeared to be somewhat…naïve. Yes, that was the word. And carefree.

Not a bad way to live, really. It would be better than dwelling constantly on how the others might be doing in other worlds, and the incredibly _boring_ setting. The unique red hue of the sand had been intriguing at first, but it had gotten old after about an hour. Especially after it started getting in his tennis shoes.

Agumon, of course, wasn't complaining. Being a saurian that commonly used fire attacks seemed to have its advantages in this sort of environment.

Gabumon wasn't complaining either, but it was easy to tell that the heat was bothering him. The fur coat on the Digimon's back seemed to be doing a very good job of absorbing the heat, which is was probably meant to do. In a desert, however, that wasn't good for hydration levels. But, then again, would that matter to a Digimon? Tai had never _heard_ of Digimon dying of starvation or thirst…but, in any case, the group's regular resting periods in the shadows of the mushroom-shaped rock columns were much appreciated, by everyone.

Yawning widely—he really _was_ bored—Tai glanced back at the other members of their crew. Kenta and MarineAngemon, despite copious sweating, seemed to be rather upbeat. Kenta had said earlier that this was the first time that he and his partner had been 'senior' members of a Tamer/Digimon team, so that might be it. At the moment, they were chatting pleasantly with Biyomon about some odd subject or other.

Ai was often silent, but she observed their surroundings closely, alert to any possible change in their situation. Their course across the sand hadn't changed since Kenta had first established a direction for the True Portal, but the young girl still had her purple-ringed D-Arc in hand with the compass function activated. Ai seemed intent on making sure that they were headed in the right direction. Impmon strolled along beside her casually, occasionally inserting a witty remark into a conversation here and there with his distinctive accent, but for the most part, he remained silent, keeping an eye on the horizon. An alert pair.

And finally, there was Matt and Sora. Trailing a little ways behind the rest of the group, the two friends walked in silence, but Tai had come to see that they rarely needed words to convey what they were thinking to one another. Half-smiling ruefully, the former gogglehead shook his head. That was just the way things were, he supposed. Life went on, and everyone went with it to avoid being caught up in the past…

Rolling his eyes, Tai stretched his arms above the great jungle of his hair, working out some of the stiffness in them. _'There's no point in dwelling on it. Or philosophizing about it. The next thing I know, I'll start sounding like Izzy when he's talking computers; maybe not so technical, but a whole lot of meaning strung up in a few words. Gah…there I go again…'_

As Tai mentally struggled with his…philosophizing, Lopmon lifted a large ear inquisitively. She could have sworn she'd heard something other than Suzie's typical chatter…

There it was. To Lopmon's ears, it sounded like a rasping rumble, coming from beyond the next dune. Glancing around, the rabbit determined that her companions hadn't heard anything yet, so she opened her mouth to alert them—

—and stopped when she heard, ever so faintly, another sound. This one, she could identify easily.

Launching herself from the top of Suzie's head, the Rookie glided towards the dune on her long ears, calling back loudly, "Someone's calling for help!"

That got the attention of the group. In the next second, they began to follow Lopmon, running awkwardly over the sand. It took the group nearly a minute to reach and climb the dune, during which time Lopmon could hear, even more clearly, the pain-filled keen of a Digimon in danger of its life.

Tai was the first to reach the dune's crest. Bending over nearly double, his lungs pulling deeply on the dry air, the former gogglehead peered down the slope, searching for the source of the cry that was now quite audible to him and the others.

He found it quickly enough. The dune was high, and it gave a clear view of the surrounding area; once the dune dropped away, the red sand stretched on into a flat plain that continued to the distant horizon. About a thousand feet down the slope and across the sand plain was a large, bipedal dinosaur; it was covered in green scales, a number of which lengthened and sharpened into spikes arching down its back. The most obvious physical feature was the set of claws on its feet. Even at such a distance, it was easy to tell that the middle claws on each foot stretched nearly ten feet longer than their companions. It looked extremely awkward, but they also had a high arch, so that the ends of the razor-sharp claws were about a foot above the ground while the Digimon's feet were flat against the sand.

And it was obvious that the dinosaur was in pain. The Digimon was flailing about on the sand plain, lurching one way, then another, before it finally toppled to the ground with an audible _boom!_

Ai, upon seeing the distressed dinosaur, blinked, then pointed her D-Arc towards it, hoping that the device would be able to get a clear reading at such a distance. A moment later, the Digivice beeped and projected a holographic screen into the air.

"DinoRexmon," Ai read aloud, glancing at the data figures surrounding the Digimon's picture. Trying to ignore the increasing volume of the creature's cries, she continued shakily, "It's a Mega. Data type…special attacks are Ogre Flame and Splatter Hunting."

Matt stared out at the dinosaur, his brow furrowed. "What could make a Mega howl like that?" he mused aloud, clenching a fist around his azure blue D-3 in concern.

"We need to get to it!" Sora exclaimed, gesturing towards the fallen Digimon. "We have to help it somehow…!"

"Wait," Lopmon said grimly. "It's not alone out there."

She had identified the rasping rumble. Shading her eyes with a long ear, she could just make out the shifting of the sand around the Mega. And there was a lot of shifting going on out there. The sound she had heard was the sand being pushed aside by something _beneath_ the surface.

A _lot_ of something's.

"Guys…"

"I see it, too," Tai confirmed, squinting against the afternoon sun.

"What is it…?" Agumon asked before stopping abruptly. Next to the DinoRexmon, a geyser of sand erupted into the air, and it was quickly followed by more, similar upheaval. The Mega dinosaur howled loudly…and disintegrated into data particles, which were quickly lost to view amongst the sand grains flying through the dry, desert air.

Ai stared in shock. She had never seen a Digimon destroyed before. All of the Digimon appearing in the Real World back home had been taken to Hypnos peacefully, where they had been sent back to the Digital World after a short stay. To see a Digimon _die_ like this was…petrifying.

Impmon scowled as he watched the churning of the distant sand. "I t'ink dis is gonna get rough real fast…"

"Only if whatever is out there figures out we're here," Matt disagreed, shaking his head.

Suzie considered the situation, a surprisingly thoughtful look on her petite face. "Henry once told me that animals that live underground can feel the vibrations of another animal's steps on the surface…so, maybe we should walk away softly?"

"Sounds like a good idea to me," Kenta said, slowly turning away, preparing to walk back down the dune.

"Too late," Gabumon announced grimly, gesturing. The group looked…and then wished they hadn't.

The distant sand was shifting even more rapidly, now in easily noticeable lines, and the distance between the phenomenon and the group was swiftly being closed.

Tai grimaced. "Looks like we've been spotted. Whatever's out there is heading right for us, swimming through the sand like water."

Gulping, Ai said, in a trembling voice, "It looks like an army's moving under the ground." Indeed, from the looks of things, there appeared to be nearly two dozen distinct tracks of sand coming towards them. If the surge of lines was any indication, the Tamers and DigiDestined could be looking at an uncomfortably large number of opponents.

Eyeing the rapidly approaching disturbances, Sora said anxiously, "I'm in favor of getting out of here. Now."

"We can't run fast enough to outpace these things!" Agumon pointed out, gesturing emphatically. "I think they'll be here in less than a minute!"

"We'll have to fly!" Biyomon exclaimed, giving her wings a quick flap to loosen the muscles.

Sora nodded, and then pulled her D-3 off of her belt. The rosy red handgrips seemed to glow in the sun's glare, and Sora could nearly see her reflection in the metallic sheen of the device's gray body. Shaking aside her wondering observation of the upgraded Digivice, Sora said determinedly to her partner, "Take it all the way to Ultimate; you'll have to carry everyone."

"Roger!" Biyomon confirmed, nodding. The pink avian took several steps back before assuming a ready stance.

The D-3's screen flickered on, then began to glow brightly; a few feet away, Biyomon began to glow as well, as she entered the Digivolution phase.

_"Biyomon Digivolve to…"_

With a sound of a razor-sharp blade slicing through rough sandpaper, a large claw in the shape of a sickle burst out of the sand between Biyomon and the group. Startled out of her concentration, Biyomon squawked as she jumped back, the glow of Digivolution fading as the Rookie took to the air. The rest of the group jumped back as well, which was lucky for them. Another curved claw erupted from the sand next to the first, landing swiftly where the humans and their partners had stood a moment before.

In a cascade of grainy red sand, the antagonist revealed itself, uttering a low growl of hostility. Tai recognized the Digimon instantly as Scorpiomon, the Ultimate level arachnid. This Scorpiomon's tail stinger was raised high above its body, poised to strike at an instant's notice; a sure sign of aggression.

Gulping, Tai pulled out his own orange D-3. Risking a quick glance down the dune, the former leader of the DigiDestined nearly stumbled; the disturbance of the sand had been revealed.

Nearly two dozen Digimon had surfaced from beneath their sand, and had started crawling their way up the dune. About half were more Scorpiomon, with the other half made up of another type of Digimon that Tai didn't recognize. These Digimon were skeletal, and at first glance resembled the Scorpiomon. The second revealed only two legs, instead of numerous bladed feet, and two large pincers—like a crab's—atop thick, bony arms. An unusual feature of the unknown Digimon was the ribs; instead of bones, each Digimon had four red scythe blades jutting out where the ribs would normally go in most creatures. The most prominent parts of the Digimon's bodies were the tails; arching above their bodies, each had a long, slender line of connected bones, like vertebrae. As with the Scorpiomon, these Digimon's tails were tipped with metallic stingers; these stingers, however, looked even more lethal. They had the look of long, curving blades, with serrated edges along the top. Tai gulped at the sight of the deadly-appearing weapons.

"Uh…Kenta?"

"I-I'm on it," the Tamer replied unsteadily, pointing his D-Arc at the new Digimon. A moment later, the teen began reading the data aloud, while he and the others backed away from the Scorpiomon that had surprised them.

"SkullScorpiomon. It's a Data type at the…Ultimate level. Its attacks are Black Out and Poison Pierce…" Kenta said, tucking the Digivice back into the relative safety of his pocket with a shaky hand.

"Great…that's, what, twenty-five Ultimates?" Matt exclaimed, eyeing the nearest Scorpiomon warily, sneaking glances at the approaching horde of arachnid Digimon coming up the dune.

"Uh…yeah, about that many," Biyomon confirmed as she took a place in front of Sora. "Now would be a good time to Digivolve…"

"No argument here," Agumon said firmly, taking a fighting position. Tai nodded and raised his Digivice. Echoing his stance, Matt and Sora took the same pose as their partners began to glow.

_"Agumon, Warp-Digivolve to…WarGreymon!"_

_"Gabumon, Warp-Digivolve to…MetalGarurumon!"_

_"Biyomon, Digivolve to…Birdramon! Birdramon Digivolve to…Garudamon!"_

Impmon nodded his head. "Time ta join da party," the Rookie said as his body disappeared in a flash of light, before reforming into Beelzemon. However, this version of Beelzemon had three green eyes, as opposed to red, two large wings of black feathers sprouting from his back, and a long blaster had appeared on his right arm, with the barrel stretching a little past his knees. To top off the transformation, the metal bracers on his forearms, the spiked tips of his boots, and other small armor plates over his body had changed color from black to silver.

Giving his expansive wings a quick flap, Beelzemon Blast Mode smirked, revealing several pointy teeth, and said, "Boy, it's good ta be back in this form." The Mega then reached down and carefully picked up Ai with his left arm, holding his Tamer close against his chest as he launched himself into the air.

WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon were quickly saddled with Tai and Matt. Keeping an eye on the nearby Scorpiomon, whose stinger and claws were twitching madly, Garudamon—who was nearly half as tall as the sand dune—carefully picked up Sora, Kenta, Suzie, and Lopmon in her large hands before taking wing. Aside from a few twitches, the Scorpiomon beneath them did nothing.

Tai, his arms wrapped around WarGreymon's neck, breathed a sigh of relief from his partner's back. "Well, that wasn't too bad…"

_"Scorpion Storm!"_

The former gogglehead yelped as WarGreymon twisted in the air, avoiding the numerous geysers of sand that had been shot into the air. "It was just waiting for its friends to show up before it started attacking us," WarGreymon said darkly as he threw both himself and Tai out of the path of another attack.

"Great…"

_"Black Out!"_ shouted several raspy voices from below. MetalGarurumon mentally winced as thick spurts of dark liquid shot raced through the air; a splatter of the liquid splashed against the Mega's armor, and the cybernetic wolf growled as he felt the unmistakable sensation of acid gnawing at the metal. "Things just got worse…" Matt muttered as he shifted forward to avoid coming into contact with the acid.

"We have to get away from these Digimon before they hit us!" Sora yelled from the palm of Garudamon's right hand. The girl—as well as Garudamon's other passengers—was holding tightly onto the Ultimate's large fingers, which were curled into semi-protective cups around the DigiDestined.

Beelzemon cast his gaze around the area swiftly. Seeing nothing across the huge plain of sand, the Mega turned back the way they had originally come; while still more sand lay in that direction, the massive rock pillars scattered about the area quickly attracted the Digimon's attention. Gesturing with his blaster, Death Slinger, Beelzemon yelled, "Da top a' 'dose rock columns! 'Dey'll keep da kids safe while we duke it out wit' these guys!"

"Right!" WarGreymon shouted in response, heading towards the nearest mushroom-shaped formation; it was about a mile away, but reaching it shouldn't be _too_ much of a problem. Tai clung to the Mega's back as they flew away rapidly.

The rest of the Digimon and their passengers changed course accordingly. Unfortunately, so did the horde of Ultimates below. With no hesitation, the Scorpiomon and SkullScorpiomon dove beneath the surface of the sand, churning up great spurts of red sand as they followed at a frightening speed.

"Why can't we just out-fly them?" Kenta yelled in question, hanging onto one of Garudamon's thick fingers. MarineAngemon clung to his shoulder tightly, gazing down at the sand with an anxious expression.

"Do you see how fast they're following us?" Garudamon said back, risking a glance downward and backward. "They're moving like fish in the water! And they'll keep attacking us as long as we're in range!"

_"Scorpion Storm!"_

"You see?" Garudamon emphasized, flapping her great wings to gain enough height to avoid the numerous attacks directed at her from beneath the surface. "We have no idea how far we'd have to go to get away from them!"

"Garudamon's right!" Sora called from her partner's other hand. Wearing a grim face, the DigiDestined continued, "That DinoRexmon got cut to pieces on the ground, but even in the air, we're targets for them! I think they'll keep this up for as long as they have to in order to get us!"

"Then what do we do?" Matt yelled from MetalGarurumon's back. They were nearing a rock column, and the teen eyed it speculatively. "Fight them all off?"

"We might not have a choice!" WarGreymon answered loudly.

Tai sighed in frustration. _'Things can never be simple…'_

XxXxX

/Barbamon's Mansion, the Dark Area. 2:53 p.m./

Barbamon inclined his head toward his two servants. These two had been picked especially for the task at hand…if he might say so himself, Barbamon thought the touch was perfect. Cruel irony was truly the greatest humor in existence…

"You understand your mission?" the old Demon Lord asked, already knowing the response.

The corrupted knight, clad in silver armor and a flowing blue cape, nodded his head, saying in a deep voice, "I do, Lord Barbamon."

Echoing the knight's response, the black dragon said, "Yes…" in a low, hissing growl streaked with audible bloodlust and anticipation. Flexing his large, leathery wings, the dark dragon asked, his twin rows of teeth clicking as he spoke, "When may we leave?"

Barbamon considered the question, then casually flicked his fingers to the side. Moments later, a thin, vertical slash of red light emerged into existence; the slash of light then widened into a rectangular opening in midair, revealing a very different environment from the cold, dark mansion on the other side.

"Now," Barbamon replied, gesturing towards the gateway.

The knight nodded, his yellow eyes glinting with barely concealed malice. Turning on his heel, the knight walked through the gateway calmly, disappearing into the world beyond.

Rumbling loudly in his peculiar laugh, the black dragon followed, tucking his wings close to his body in order to fit through the opening hanging in the air.

Once the two were through, Barbamon closed the gateway with another flick of his fingers. Although the casual gestures were small, the energy needed to open a gateway to a world as distant and different as the ones the human children and their partners had been sent to was enormous. Indeed, the Demon Lord quite felt the desire to rest…

…but he decided against it. He was too strong to give in to such weak compulsions. He would rest when he decided that he _needed_ to rest, not before. He had too much else to do.

Someday soon, little things like this wouldn't bother him anymore. He would have all the time in the world, and all the power he needed…

With a last glance at the space where his gateway had closed, and his servants had departed, the Demon Lord strode towards a nearby door in the expansive hall. The door led down into the lower levels of the mansion, but below that…

Barbamon walked in silence, passing from the great hall down to the dungeons…and to another door, hidden in a deep crevice of shadow, out of sight to the casual observer. It was made to look like part of the stone wall, and it had been done so well that Barbamon, who had been down this way a dozen, a hundred times before, was forced to look for the faint circle impressed into the door's stone. After finding it, several moments later, Barbamon pressed his hand against the circle, his long nails scratching lightly against the stone.

The faint outline of the circle flashed dimly, then faded. As Barbamon pulled his hand back, the stone door shuddered, then swung back on a pair of thick, metal hinges. Stepping through the hidden doorway, Barbamon pushed the stone door closed behind him; there was no sense in revealing the door's location to anyone beyond his most trusted servants. That would only cause problems.

The Demon Lord stepped forward, his eyes drifting over the sides of the mine shaft. It looked quite normal to the casual observer, and for good reason; it was a tunnel dug into solid rock, and it led somewhere deeper underground. End of story.

As to what it led to…well, that was something completely different.

Thanks to the work he'd had ordered done to the shaft, Barbamon didn't even have to bend his neck as he proceeded deeper underground. It was a nice change; it simply wasn't enjoyable to journey the whole way stooped over like an old man.

The bottom of his black staff didn't encounter a single obstacle in its course, as it _plunked_ quietly when it made contact with stone; the floor of the mine shaft was completely smooth, if somewhat dusty. Barbamon made a mental note to reward his workers who labored down there.

Perhaps he'd allow them the pleasure of plundering the other Demon Lords' estates once his goal was accomplished.

Chuckling darkly, the Demon Lord finally came to a massive cavern, which had been enlarged by the Digmon and Drimogemon working there; even before, however, the cavern's ceiling had stretched up into darkness and disappeared. Now, the drill-equipped Digimon didn't even look up as their master entered; they had been instructed to continue work, no matter what. The only thing they would stop for was the ceiling caving in on them. Perhaps not even then. They knew what Barbamon would do to them if they didn't maintain their pace.

As a result, only a single Digimon came forward to greet Barbamon. A large Wendigomon, who was doubtless pleased that he could stand up straight in the cavern; the mine shaft and the other entrances to the cavern were quite uncomfortable for the taskmaster to fit through. The Champion gave a small bow to the Demon Lord, who acknowledged the show of servitude with a small wave of his hand. Barbamon's eyes, however, were more interested in the far cavern wall, many hundreds of feet away. At last breaking his silence, the Demon Lord noted, "It appears some progress has been made in the last three days."

The Wendigomon nodded. "We hit a vein of softer rock, and it has been easy going ever since. I believe we will reach your target within the next two days. Perhaps less."

"Good…good…" Barbamon murmured, nearly in a trance. Even with another two days' worth of rock between them, he could feel its call…

Such hunger…such longing…it wished to be found, to be used…

…and Barbamon would be the one to use it. Once he had it in his hands, he would reign supreme in all the universes. The multiverse would bow before his might. Nothing would be able to supplant him, then. Nothing.

Barbamon's gleeful laughter rang throughout the cavern, while his servants labored on, oblivious to their master's delight…

…and his madness.

XxXxX

A/N: Yes, I'm inserting an original character into the storyline. Have I no shame? Well, some of my friends might tell you "No, not when he's in one of his crazier moods…" Honestly, though, I do have _some_ dignity. ;) Regardless, Ren is here to stay. That was actually my favorite section to write in this chapter.

Boy, it's so much easier and more fun to write when you have a bunch of little groups, as opposed to attempting to have…forty-two characters all try and contribute to a conversation. That's a lot of people, isn't it? One good reason to make sure you know what you're getting into before starting an ambitious project with that many key players…

For those of you who caught the Borg quotes from the KnightChessmon, congratulations. Ten points to your house, and you win the House Cup! What does that mean? Absolutely nothing important, so the losers don't have to feel too bad…

Oh, yeah. I had a little reference to Ultra Sonic 007's _'Housemates'_ in here somewhere. Anyone familiar with Ultra's work catch it? ;)

Till next time!


	8. Desert, Dungeon, Forest, City

Disclaimer:

Henry Wong raises an eyebrow as he walks into the entrance hall of the mansion. "What's all the racket…?" he asks before trailing off and halting in mid-step.

Following the Tamer's point-of-view, we see Nolaquen265 at the huge front doors of the mansion, feverishly piling up large pieces of furniture in front of them. From the other side of the doors comes a loud beating noise, as though someone is hammering very large, meaty fists against the polished wood.

"O…kay…"

Finally noticing the Tamer's presence, Nolaquen turns and yells hysterically, his wild eyes dancing around in obvious desperation, "Quick! Help me barricade the doors!" The frantic author then proceeds to drag a large sofa from the adjoining sitting room, shoving the piece of furniture into the large pile already present.

Henry shakes his head in bewilderment. "Why? What's wrong?"

Nolaquen points to the large doors with a shaking finger. "You hear that pounding noise? _You hear it?_ Someone told Toei that I wasn't putting a disclaimer into my fic saying that I don't own Digimon, so they've hired strong-arms to come and deal with me!"

"…you know, I'm pretty sure you _have_ been doing the disclaimers. I remember that last trip to the Bahamas quite clearly…" Henry replies, staring at the now shuddering doors in mild curiosity. It seemed they had a battering ram out there…

Nolaquen throws his hands in the air in exasperation before seizing a nearby bust of Darth Vader and hurling it onto the top of the heap of miscellaneous heavy things. "It doesn't matter now! Those are _mercenaries_ out there! They won't stop for mere details like that!" Gesturing towards a large stone sculpture of a roaring Greymon, the deranged author then yells, "Drag that over here while I go grab a shotgun! And my lightsaber, while I'm at it…"

Henry cocks his head to the side. "Why?"

Nolaquen's eyes bug out in incredulity. _"WHY? _Because those guys aren't going to stop until I'm a smear on the floor of my own mansion! _THAT'S WHY!"_

Shaking his head, Henry clarifies, "No, I mean, why should I help you? Recently, you've shown a very strong willingness to…well, physically and mentally maim us in the disclaimers. Maybe you need to take a break. I'm sure those, er, _strong-arms_ will help you do just that…"

Nolaquen's right eye twitches madly. "May I remind you that I am _still_ the omnipotent author? Take your deepest, darkest fears and multiply them by ten. You know I can do that." Tapping his finger to his chin thoughtfully, the author says slowly, "Maybe we can start with the patented 'Pwincess Pwetty Pants Routine'…heck, I might even let Jeri help with _that_ one…"

"…give me a hand with this statue, will you?"

As the two struggle to move the large effigy from its position by the chocolate fountain, Davis comes down the marble stairs behind them and asks loudly, "Hey, why did a big white van pull up out front? And who are those big guys dressed in white coats…?"

Nolaquen's eye twitches for a moment before he begins to sing loudly, _"THEY'RE COMING TO TAKE ME AWAY, HA HA!" _The disturbed author then drops his end of the statue—leaving the other end to slam onto Henry's foot—and begins to dance away on the tiled floor of the entrance hall. _"THEY'RE COMING, THEY'RE COMING, THEY'RE COMING, HA HA…!"_ Nolaquen then disappears into another room, eliciting startled cries from T.K. and Kari as he…interrupts them.

Davis blinks. "…was it something I said?"

Henry just groans as he pushes the statue off his throbbing foot and onto the large pile in front of the front doors. "I'm going to kill my agent…"

A/N: I don't really own a mansion. Or a chocolate fountain. ;)

I'm enjoying the new extended secret ending to Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix+ at the moment. Boy, I can't wait till the third Playstation installment comes out…KINGDOM HEARTS ROCKS!

…

Well, I've left you all in suspense long enough. Onward!

XxXxX

**Chapter Eight: Desert, Dungeon, Forest, City**

XxXxX

/The Digital Desert. Friday, June 25th, 2004. 2:55 p.m./

Suzie winced as WarGreymon's Terra Force blasted the sand beneath him into a large crater of glowing red glass. Unfortunately, for all the damage he and the other Digimon were doing to the desert, the horde of arachnid Ultimates harassing them simply wasn't that easy to hit.

The DigiDestined and Tamers were standing on one of the few landmarks they had been able to spy in the time since they had first arrived in the Digital World. The rock columns scattered throughout the area seemed to have been formed over eons by the harsh elements of the desert—although, with a Digital World, it was hard to tell for sure—much like the rock formations one might see in the U.S.'s New Mexico. The wind, and the sand carried with it, had whittled away at the columns over the years, leaving them shaped like massive red mushrooms sprouting from the wasteland's sand; yet, unlike their fungi look-alikes, these great formations stood several hundred feet high.

_"Corona Blaster!"_ Beelzemon yelled nearby as his weapon, Death Slinger, formed a ball of purplish energy between its ending prongs. The attack was fired towards the ground at a dizzying speed, but the Scorpiomon that the Mega had been aiming at simply dove beneath the surface, leaving the ball of energy to explode harmlessly against the spray of sand left in its wake.

Tai growled as a Wing Blade from Garudamon showed itself just as effective at squashing the annoying bugs below; that is to say, not very effective at all. "This isn't working! They come up to attack, and they go back under as soon as they see something headed their way!"

"You have to admit, it's a good strategy, and they've got it down pat," Matt said sullenly, watching as a pair of SkullScorpiomon simultaneously launched matching attacks of black acid at the teen's partner. MetalGarurumon spun away at the last instant, but by the time he had locked onto the offending pair with his own attack, the Ultimates had disappeared beneath the red sand. Thus, the Mega's icy missiles exploded uselessly above them, creating a sheet of ice six inches thick and close to a hundred square feet in area.

Not that it did any good.

Tai groaned as he plopped down onto the top of the column that he and the others stood on, repeatedly thumping his fist on the stone in frustration. Matt, from the look on his face, looked ready to join him, while Sora simply gazed down at the fight anxiously. Kenta and MarineAngemon echoed her stance, each grimacing slightly. Frowns on their faces, Ai and Lopmon shook their heads slowly as they scanned the horizon every few moments, as though hopeful that help would miraculously arrive and drive away their opponents.

Suzie, on the other hand, opted for a calmer facial expression, watching the battle raging below them almost impassively. Still, looks could be deceiving; throughout it all, the young Tamer's mental gears were grinding rapidly as she considered the situation carefully.

Unfortunately, the relative protection afforded to the humans by the columns wasn't doing much to get them completely out of danger's territory. Below, the Scorpiomon and SkullScorpiomon burst out of the sand with hisses and raspy voices as they called out their attacks viciously. WarGreymon, MetalGarurumon, Garudamon, and Beelzemon Blast Mode were in the air, avoiding all the attacks they could while taking any opportunities for potshots that presented themselves.

It wasn't a very desirable position. The airborne Digimon had no cover beyond their own evasion and agility. This gave them plenty of opportunities for attacking—assuming they managed to evade the retaliatory strikes—but it was weary work. The Ultimates below, on the other hand, held the metaphorical high ground.

Even though they were technically spending most of their time _beneath_ the ground.

Suzie sighed slightly as she thought it through. The terrain was the arachnids' main advantage. Without the sand to burrow under, the twenty-two Ultimates—only three had been destroyed in the past six minutes or so—would have been left out in the open; easy marks for three Megas and an Ultimate, especially from the air. Not to mention the fact that the sand absorbed a lot of the force behind most of the attacks that ended up impacting the ground. Suzie estimated that less than four feet of sand was enough to lessen the damage dealt to a Scorpiomon or SkullScorpiomon beneath the surface by quite a lot; that rendered most of their partner's attacks ineffective.

How to nullify that advantage, then? MetalGarurumon could freeze the top of the sand into a sheet of dirty ice, but the cybernetic wolf couldn't possibly cover enough area to keep their opponents from having free range; nor would the ice probably stop them, anyway. And for all the glass being created by WarGreymon and Garudamon's fire-based attacks, they might well have been able to build a small hotel out of nothing _but_ glass, but the razor sharp shards of melted sand weren't even affecting the Ultimates. The Scorpiomon had thick, scaly hides, and the SkullScorpiomon were little more than skeletons; no damage done _there_.

To top off the problem—which was already approaching something near desperate—they couldn't get away. The group was effectively trapped atop the one piece of shelter they had; the arachnid Ultimates cut through the sand like sharks through water. The winged Digimon couldn't fly fast enough to escape, and neither could they fly high enough to avoid all the attacks. They had tried _that_ on the way to the column; Beelzemon—who was the second smallest Digimon of the fighting group—had nearly been shot down with Ai by a Black Out attack. The instant they sacrificed maneuverability for altitude, an Ultimate below would send up an incredibly accurate stream of either sand or acid. They simply hadn't had time to determine how high those attacks could go, but from the initial looks of things, they couldn't get high enough _fast_ enough to avoid them.

That left them sitting on the rock, waiting for the mass of bloodthirsty Ultimates to go away (which Garudamon had pointed out as being unlikely at best, judging from their behavior), and fighting their way out. The former option wasn't likely to work, and the latter didn't seem to be working _now_.

WarGreymon yelped as a blast of high-pressure sand hit him full in the chest. The armored Mega was sent skyward by the force of the attack, only regaining control after flying so high that Suzie couldn't even make out the Crest of Courage emblazoned on the split shield hanging on his back. By that time, however, four more attacks had been sent his way, even at his current altitude. Two were more sand streams, but the other two were thick spurts of black acid. WarGreymon threw himself down and to the side, turning a freefall into a slowly corkscrewing midair maneuver. It was a rather neat bit of flying, really. Only one of the attacks managed to gain a glancing hit.

Suzie sighed in relief as the Mega quickly approached them, holding one of his arms close to his side. When the Digimon touched down next to Tai, Suzie took a few steps closer to eye his injuries.

His armor was scratched and even dented from the force of countless sand grains pummeling it, and his left arm was covered in thick little drops of steaming acid. The Mega shook these off almost thoughtlessly, but Suzie could see pain shining through the Digimon's bright green eyes.

Tai winced as he looked at his roughed-up partner, then grinned weakly. "Well, I've never seen your armor so shiny, WarGreymon," the gogglehead commented, shaking his head.

WarGreymon blinked before he looked down at himself. The Mega then chuckled in grim amusement. Sure enough, the scouring sand, for all the damage it had done, had polished the mostly-untouched sections of his body armor to a bright sheen. The chuckles stopped rather quickly, though.

"Tai, this isn't working," the Mega then said seriously while glancing out at his still-fighting friends. Garudamon issued a loud shriek as a spurt of acid from a SkullScorpiomon splattered her left wing before retaliating with a burning Wing Blade.

_This_ arachnid wasn't fast enough to burrow under the red sand. The fiery attack caught the Ultimate square in the back, and with a loud howl of pain, the Digimon burst into data particles. Beelzemon let out a cry of victory just in time to receive a blast of sand in the side. The demonic Mega, cursing audibly—even from a distance of nearly a hundred feet—turned to face his attacker, only to find it already halfway beneath the sand.

Sora nodded grimly in response to WarGreymon's statement. "We can't destroy them fast enough," she said, fingering a belt loop in her jeans. "Our Digimon have to get hit at least ten times before we manage to destroy even one of them!"

"They're a strong bunch of bugs. And smart, too," WarGreymon said darkly, wincing as he moved his injured arm in a slow circle experimentally. "We need a change of plans."

Tai, Matt, and Kenta nodded simultaneously before turning to each other. "Got any ideas?" they each asked. The three then blinked at the apparent echo from each other.

Suzie turned her attention back to the battle below, mustering all of her limited experience in these sorts of matters, turning her mind head-over-heels trying to find a solution.

It couldn't be that difficult, could it?

Over the past few years, Suzie had developed something of an interest in tactics. It might have been a product of her watching Henry play so many strategy games on the computer, or her interest in the Digimon card game, but it was a talent that had found a surprising home in the youngest of the Wong children.

Now, she was applying all her knowledge of strategy and Digimon—which was quite extensive, considering the occupations of several of her family members—to this simple problem.

_'What are _our_ strengths?'_ the young Tamer asked herself, tapping a finger to her chin in a manner that imitated Henry almost perfectly—said teen would probably have been unnerved at the sight. Terriermon would have joked about it after he finished laughing.

_'Hmm…'_

Unbidden, a memory inserted itself into Suzie's mind's eye. Henry, speaking to her nearly two years ago, explaining a typical battle in Tamers' terms…

_"Flexibility is the name of the game for a Tamer, Suzie," the blue-haired teen said to his younger sister, who listened raptly. "That's what _these_ are for…" he continued, holding up…_

_…a card._

_"Thanks to our D-Arcs, these cards allow us to tap into different powers and abilities that we wouldn't have otherwise. Admittedly, the sheer power gained isn't much, but it's an edge that can easily turn the tide of most battles. We don't use them so much anymore, really, since we've gotten to the point where our strength by itself is pretty effective against whatever we come up against." The Tamer then added, grinning, "And, besides, using cards is kind of difficult while we're Biomerged."_

_Suzie nodded her head eagerly. That was understandable enough._

_Henry continued, "But if you're ever in a position where strength isn't enough, and you need just a little something extra to make a strategy work, _that's_ when you use these."_

Suzie smiled as she pulled out her own deck from the little purse hanging at her side. She had customized this deck herself several months ago…and she had creamed Henry with it in five solid games. There _had_ to be something that would help in here.

Ignoring MetalGarurumon's sudden yell of pain, and then his retaliatory attack, Suzie shifted through her cards rapidly, drawing curious glances from the others on the slab of rock they stood on. Before the horde of Ultimates had shown up, Kenta had spent much of his time briefing the DigiDestined and their partners on such things as the Digimon Card Game, including some of the possible effects from using a number of different cards. Now, the Odaiba portion of the crew was watching inquisitively, eyebrows raised.

Suzie continued to sift through her deck, oblivious to their attention. _'We need something like an attack that has a really large area of effect, and enough power that all this sand won't be able to absorb enough of its force to make it useless…'_ she thought to herself, mentally discarding a Hyperchip card, then a KingEtemon. _'Yeah, that won't help…neither will that…or that…'_

Then, the perfect card practically jumped out at her. Suzie nearly smacked herself in the head for its obviousness. _'This is SO_ _perfect!'_ Frowning slightly, the young Tamer then asked herself, _'Now, who should use it?'_

_'Let's see…obviously, the DigiDestined can't use cards, so that gives us three options.' _Fragments of half-remembered conversations between her father and her brother about different Digimon and the applications of their data replayed themselves in her mind at break-neck pace. _'MarineAngemon is a Mega, but he's too small to be able to fully exploit the effects of this card. Something about his data just not matching up with the sort of algorithms the D-Arcs use to manipulate a Digimon's basic structure on this level, or something…'_ Glancing at her partner, Suzie shook her head, drawing bewildered looks from the rest of the group, who were now watching the girl curiously. _'Lopmon can't handle this kind of power, even as Antylamon at the Ultimate level. That leaves…'_

Suzie turned on her heel to face Ai, holding out her selected card. "Ai! You need to use this card on Beelzemon!"

Ai took the card tentatively. She had a little less experience than Suzie in these matters, but she recognized the card instantly, and her face lit up with a wide grin. Turning, the youngest Tamer present yelled to her partner, "Beelzemon!"

_"WHAT?"_ the Mega responded irritably as he dodged another Black Out attack, losing a few black feathers from his great wings in the process.

Ai held the card next to her purple-ringed D-Arc, grinning triumphantly. _"Get ready for an upgrade!"_

Beelzemon half-turned. _'Wha…?"_

Ai slashed the card through the scanning slot. Instantly, a flash of light burst from the Digivice's screen, blazing intensely even in the afternoon sun. _"Digi-Modify!"_

_"…Omnimon's Supreme Cannon, Activate!"_

Beelzemon's eyes widened in astonishment. In a flash of white light, his left arm morphed into the arm of Omnimon…

…complete with mountain-busting cannon.

Beelzemon stared before his face broke into a feral grin that would have had Piedmon shuddering in his jester's boots. Revealing several pointy teeth, the Mega said to himself, "Payback time." Flexing his wings, Beelzemon hurtled up into the sky, heedless of the attacks directed at him.

Suddenly halting about a hundred feet above the heads of the humans nearby, the Mega shouted, _"HEY! Ya poor excuses fer lobsters!"_

Matt's eye twitched. "That's the best he can do?" Tai just groaned and palmed his face.

Beelzemon, unaware of the responses his..._insult_ had evoked among his friends below, continued, "Get ready for some bug crunching…"

_"…'CAUSE WE'RE GOIN' FULL AUTOMATIC!"_

Tai blanched. "…does he even know what he's _got_?"

"Somehow, I think he does," Matt murmured, his face going ashen.

Ai's victorious smile faltered. Turning to Suzie, she asked, "Are you sure this was a good idea?"

Suzie's right eye twitched. "…not anymore."

Beelzemon brought his left arm—and the attached weapon of mass destruction—to bear on the ground below, smirking broadly. Garudamon and MetalGarurumon exchanged a single glance before bolting towards their other friends, out of the line of fire.

It seemed that the Scorpiomon and SkullScorpiomon below had noticed a fatal shift in the balance of the battle as well. The churning of red sand stopped for a moment before redoubling in intensity as the antagonistic Digimon attempted to make a speedy getaway.

_"SUPREME…!"_

Yeah, right.

_"…CANNON!"_

The world erupted in blinding light.

xxxxx

"…do ya t'ink maybe I overdid it a little bit?"

Tai snorted as he continued to comb pieces of glass and sand out of his jungle of brown hair with his hands. "Gee, maybe just a _little_…" he grumbled under his breath.

Impmon shrugged nonchalantly as he surveyed the site of the battle. "Boy, Ai, you gotta use dat card more often."

Ai gazed down at the scene from the palm of Garudamon's huge hand.

Everything within a square mile was glass. Pure and simple. The nearest dune was now a small mountain of fused red glass, and it glistened in the afternoon sun like a palace of purest crystal. It hurt just looking at it. Their former refuge, in the form of the mushroom-rock pillar, had been reduced to a thin little spire of red stone, standing by itself above a sea of shattered glass.

"Yeah…_no_." And that was final.

"I agree with Ai," Sora voiced, almost unnecessarily. "I still don't know how we got out of that in one piece…"

"He wasn't aiming at us," Garudamon said, her deep tone laced with exasperation. "Not that _that_ seems to have mattered much, granted…" she added, eyeing the pitiful remains of the rock column.

WarGreymon shrugged, jostling Tai on his shoulder. "I'm just glad we were able to shield you guys from the wash-over of the blasts."

"Plural: blasts," Matt said, half-glaring at Impmon from his partner's armored back. "_Major_ plural."

MetalGarurumon chimed in gruffly, "Can you spell 'trigger-happy'?"

Impmon whistled innocently, looking up at the cloudless azure sky.

Kenta grinned. "Well, aside from the, ah, _overkill_," he said, exchanging an amused glance with MarineAngemon, "that was awesome, Suzie!"

Suzie flushed prettily at the immediately echoed praise. Lopmon smiled proudly, hanging from her partner's shoulder.

After Sora raised an enthusiastic cheer—quickly taken up by the others—Tai shook his head, dislodging more sand, and grinned. "Well, thanks to Suzie's brilliant idea and, yes, Impmon's…enthusiasm…" the others snorted while Impmon rolled his eyes and shrugged, "…our path is clear!"

_"Huzzah!"_

Tai raised his orange D-3 and beamed at the glowing arrow on the screen. "And now, brave adventurers, onwards!"

"True Portal! True Portal!" MarineAngemon chirruped gleefully, somersaulting in midair next to Kenta's shoulder.

The group set off, flying away in their chosen direction, laughing cheerfully.

xxxxx

Nearby, on top of another rock column, a caped figure stood watching the departing crew curiously. He had caught the last several minutes of their great battle…including the explosive finale.

The figure raised an eyebrow thoughtfully.

"These strangers…they might be helpful…"

Making up his mind suddenly, the being turned on his heel, spinning his silver cape around him with a flourish…and vanished on the spot.

The wind blew on, oblivious, carrying sand grains and tiny slivers of red glass over the desert.

XxXxX

/The Dungeons. 3:03 p.m./

"Talk about a kangaroo court…" Ryo muttered, pulling at the shackle holding his right wrist to the damp stone wall of the dungeon room.

"It was definitely the perfect example of how _not_ to hold a trial," Cody added, glaring at his similar restraint.

"And what was with the trapdoors under our feet?" Yolei exclaimed angrily, jostling her chain in frustration. "The second we get our 'sentence', we get dumped down here like bags of garbage!"

Ken shook his head from his position next to her. "The whole thing really wouldn't be much of a problem now, except for the fact that our Digimon were forced to stand on the other side of the room when we first walked in. I think they had their own trapdoors, too." Shrugging, the DigiDestined continued, "We didn't have a chance to Digivolve them after it became a little more necessary, and now they're somewhere else in this dungeon, and we can't get to them."

Izzy nodded as he peered towards the locked door of their large cell, about fifteen feet away. "It was rather well planned, really." At the raised eyebrows he received, he explained, "We didn't have our partners Digivolve and fight our way out from the beginning because we had hoped to resolve this peacefully. Exposing a Demon Lord would have been a good way to go about it, but we weren't given much of a chance. So, we sat through our trial more or less peacefully—"

"Yolei stomping on that one PawnChessmon's foot doesn't exactly count as peaceful, does it?" Cody interrupted, ignoring the glare he received from the girl in response.

Izzy shook his head, slightly amused, before continuing, "But the second we had a really good reason to fight our way out—that is, our 'irreversible, irrevocable, and utterly binding life sentence'—we got surprised by the trapdoors, and now we're separated from our partners.

"If a Demon Lord really _is_ here, pulling strings, he probably would have made sure that was how it worked out," Ryo agreed, sitting on the stone floor. There was moss everywhere, so it was really somewhat comfortable, provided you got a good patch close to you. Nothing could make them forget the manacles on their wrists, though. "He wouldn't have taken a chance to allow our partners to Digivolve once we wanted them to. So, he surprised us and took away that opportunity."

"And now we're alone, chained up in this cell," Izzy concurred, shaking his head. "Well, at least we still have our Digivices…for all the good they do us…"

Yolei, ignoring Izzy's uplifting comment, moaned as she gave her chain a good rattle, trying futilely to loosen its mounting to the stone block of the wall. Ken raised an eyebrow at her efforts, but he asked, instead, "What about Cyberdramon and Mako? Do you think they're still out there somewhere?" The teen looked at Ryo, who shrugged in response.

"You've got me. I really don't know how well Cyberdramon could hide himself, in _any_ situation, and I'm still too confused about his running off in the first place to make much of a guess. Not to mention his taking Mako. That beats the stuffing out of me," the Tamer added, his facial expression showing obvious bewilderment. After a moment, though, he added slowly, his eyes slightly less puzzled, "I take that back. If Cyberdramon does something unusual, he has a reason for it. If he left, then he probably didn't want to be captured—beyond the obvious reason, I don't really know why not—so he'll make sure that doesn't happen now. Plus, he's got something of a responsible streak in him—that might surprise you—" the rest of the group shook their heads innocently in response, "—so he'll take care of Mako, wherever they've gone."

Half-smiling in bitter amusement, Ryo added, "I just wish I knew where they are, and what they're up to."

xxxxx

Mako glanced up at the intimidating Ultimate cautiously and asked, "Um, Cyberdramon? Why exactly did we fly away and leave everyone else behind?"

Cyberdramon didn't take his gaze off of the town below them; they were on top of a wooded hill about two miles away from the outskirts, a little ways into the thick trees. It was a good hiding spot, given its cover and view of the area, but Cyberdramon, inexplicably, hadn't moved since they had first set down. Now, he didn't respond immediately.

"Cyberdramon…?" Mako asked again, wary of any response he might get; it would be just his luck for Cyberdramon to decide that he didn't like questions…

"Keramon."

Mako jumped at the unexpected reply, falling onto his bottom when his feet failed to support him as he landed. "…Keramon?"

Cyberdramon nodded. "What he said earlier. About the dungeons," the Ultimate said in a low, rumbling voice. Like much of the Digimon's vocal communication, it came out close to a growl.

Blinking—still surprised at hearing Cyberdramon voice his thoughts so clearly—Mako hesitantly cast back into his memory, trying to find what the Ultimate was speaking of.

Then he had it.

_"…from the hidden springs in the grove down south, to the secret passageways into the castle's dungeons…I know it all!"_

"The secret passageways?" Mako asked tentatively, frowning.

Cyberdramon nodded. "We were to be imprisoned. Our friends are probably in the dungeons now."

"But…then…"

Rolling his eyes behind his brown facemask, Cyberdramon turned to the young Tamer. "We couldn't fight in the street. You each would have been harmed before we could Digivolve or attack," the Ultimate said slowly, as though trying to explain the concept to a young child.

Mako was bewildered. First, Cyberdramon's out-of-character action in fleeing from a possible fight. Second, his silent, patient observation of the town. Third, his willingness to communicate intelligently with someone other than his Tamer.

Finally, Cyberdramon showing a thought process not _completely_ geared towards berserker fighting.

It was definitely a rare side of the Digimon to be shown.

Mako's brow furrowed. "But, then…why did you take me?"

Cyberdramon turned back to the town, but he held up three clawed fingers to the boy. "One: you don't have a partner to help you here. Two: Ai says that you're good at making people talk, even when they don't care to. Three: you were closest."

Flabbergasted, Mako could do nothing but stare at the Ultimate with a dumbfounded look. _''Two: Ai says…''_ Blinking, the boy asked, "When did you hear _that_?" And since when did Cyberdramon talk so much?

Not that he was about to voice _that_ question out loud…

"A few months ago. Everyone was at the park, talking." Cyberdramon's serene surveillance of the town didn't alter a whit.

Mako's head was spinning. "Ai was talking about how I got Grandma to tell me where our Christmas presents were! She always hides them, and we wanted to know how many we got…!"

Cyberdramon nodded as if that was perfectly reasonable. "Then you can get Keramon to tell us how to get in."

"But, why…?"

"We would have lost." Flicking a claw past the town, towards the hill that Keramon had pointed out as being the first step towards the castle, Cyberdramon continued, "A jailbreak is unexpected. We'll win _then_."

_'…you learn something new about someone every day…'_ Mako decided, slumping back onto the grass dazedly.

He was getting a headache trying to reconcile the images of 'Cyberdramon, Feral Fighter', with the new 'Cyberdramon, Insightful Thinker'.

XxXxX

/The Forest. 3:05 p.m./

_"The road goes ever on and on, down from the door where it began…Now far ahead the road has gone, and I must follow, if I can…"_

"Takato, you're tone-deaf," Rika commented, a slight grin on her face. Behind her, Mimi, Palmon, and Kazu snickered.

Takato just grinned and shrugged, spreading his hands to emphasize the point. Turning back to face Davis' back as they walked, Takato began to sing loudly, _"Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream…Merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream…"_

"Okay, now you've gone too far…" Rika growled good-naturedly, plucking something that looked like a pinecone off of a shoulder-height tree to her side, before she then chucked the spiky mass at the back of Takato's head.

Takato, thanks to a short glance back and great reflexes, ducked. Davis, who was just turning to see what the commotion was, didn't.

"…ow." Davis said tonelessly, brushing little bits of the 'Digi-cone' from his face. Then, smirking, Davis seized two more similar pinecones from another tree and threw them back at Rika.

Within moments, the orderly hike had degenerated into a free-for-all, with pinecones flying everywhere. Guilmon and Veemon, after a short exchange of intense attacks, shared a brief glance, stood back to back, pinecones overflowing from their arms, and began pelting everyone else at a downright scary speed with their strong arms. They looked more like windmills than anything else, with each turn of a rotating arm launching a small, prickly ball of hardened plant matter. With shrieks of childlike delight, the rest of the group formed up on either side of the two, doing their best to withstand the withering barrage from the two Rookies while dealing some damage of their own. Guardromon ended up being used as a massive shield for Takato, Mimi, and Palmon, with Davis, Rika, and Kazu ducking behind trees on the other side of the Guilmon-Veemon tag-team.

When Renamon phased back into sight, returning from anther scouting mission, she raised an eyebrow at the mayhem that greeted her.

"…need I even ask?"

Davis and Rika pointed at each other and simultaneously cried out, _"HE/SHE started it!"_ The others then burst into laughter as the two made faces at each other. Admittedly, Rika's was little more than a little bit of tongue stuck out between her teeth (Davis was going all out, unsurprisingly; thumbs in his ears with his fingers waving to the side, a contortion of his face that didn't look physically possible, etc., etc.), but hey…_any_ silly face out of the former Ice Queen was rarer than a blue moon.

Once the group had calmed down—which took a considerable amount of time—Renamon reported, "I saw a small village in the next valley. The population is…interesting, but I don't think they'll cause any trouble."

"Interesting, how?" Palmon asked absently, attempting to juggle three pinecones under Davis' less than stellar tutelage.

Renamon replied, with an enigmatic half-smile, "If we go there, you'll see for yourself."

"I'm up for a good mystery!" Mimi exclaimed, rubbing her hands together.

The motion was quickly carried, and Renamon said, "It's about a half-hour's walk from here."

Davis adjusted the goggles on his head—they had been knocked slightly awry in an earlier dive to avoid one of his partner's missiles—as he said, "Well, let's get going!"

And they were off again, hiking mostly in single-file line, save when one of the group would jump ahead or fall back to strike up a conversation with one of the others.

They continued in that vein for about fifteen minutes, admiring the verdant forest. Most of the plant-life in the area was lush and fertile, leaving the crew with a sense of contentment and well-being. All in all, it was an enjoyable walk, and the darker reasons for their being there in the first place rarely intruded into their minds.

About halfway to the village that Renamon had said she had found, Takato noticed something unusual. The surroundings appeared normal, and the sky looked calm enough—though slightly gray and overcast—but one of their number was beginning to act oddly.

Speeding up his pace, Takato passed by Davis and Kazu, who were chatting animatedly, and asked Rika, "Are you feeling alright?"

"Huh?" the redhead asked in response, confused. Takato's eyes drifted down to her hands. The fiery Tamer had been continuously scratching at her right hand with her left, almost unconsciously; as unaware as the girl was of her actions, though, she had left deep red marks on the skin.

Takato reached out and brought her hand close to his eyes, squinting to see with the thin light that shone through the thick branches of the surrounding trees. "Does it itch?"

"Now that I think about it, yeah, it does," Rika replied after restraining herself from jerking her hand away. Shaking her head—some reflexive actions still needed breaking, even after nearly three years—she peered at it closely.

"I hope you're not allergic to something in this forest," Takato said thoughtfully. "It'd be just our luck if it was those pinecones."

"I don't think so," Rika replied, gently taking her hand back from Takato's grasp. Staring at the knuckles closely, she continued, "I've never been allergic to anything before. I don't know why something like that would start up now, and in a DigiWorld of all places…"

By now, the rest of the group had come to a stop. While Kazu wisely held in several snickers at seeing Takato's…close examination of the redhead's hand, Mimi clicked her tongue in sympathy. The skin on the back of her right hand looked swollen, too: not just red and scratched.

"Let's see," Mimi said, taking over as physician. Rika rolled her eyes skyward, but the DigiDestined didn't notice. After a moment, Mimi asked, "What's this?"

"What's what?" Rika asked reflexively, looking closely at the place Mimi pointed out with a dainty finger. The Tamer frowned in puzzlement before she suddenly groaned.

"What?" Takato asked, confused.

Rika gingerly tapped her hand; to be more specific, in between her first and second knuckles. "This cut," she replied curtly. Takato raised an eyebrow, then looked more carefully.

Sure enough, there was a small slice in the soft skin. It was nearly healed, and it was barely an eighth of an inch long; the problem, however, was the appearance of the flesh around it. It was swollen, red, and it looked vaguely…pasty underneath.

"I don't get it," Veemon said simply, craning his neck to see.

Rika groaned again. "I got this when I punched that idiot's camera at the fashion shoot Monday…"

"Fashion shoot?" Davis asked, curious. "You're not a model, are you? I mean, I guess you've got the look…" the gogglehead cut off abruptly. The look Rika shot him couldn't have been more effective if it had come from Death Incarnate.

"That's, ah, a touchy subject, Davis," Kazu pointed out in one of those friendly 'better late than never' warnings.

Davis' eye twitched. "I kind of figured…"

Mimi's curiosity was piqued, but she refrained from saying anything beyond, "It looks like it's infected. I didn't know that infections itched, though…"

"Terrific…" Rika scowled in irritation. "Now what?"

Renamon peered over her shoulder at the small injury and the discolored tissue around it. In a thoughtful tone, the kitsune said, "The woods are full of herbs and other plants that might help with something like this. Unfortunately, I don't have a clue which would help or make things worse." She sounded as though she was chastising herself, but her tone quickly switched back to a brisk business tone. "The village where we're headed may have someone who can lend us a hand."

"Then let's get going," Takato said firmly, gesturing forwards.

The next few minutes were passed more silently, with each focusing on speed rather than conversation. After a while, however, Mimi felt the urge to engage Rika in some meaningful dialogue. The girl slowed to a crawl, waiting for Rika, who was at the back of the line, to catch up with her.

"So…you _are_ something of a model, then?" she asked cautiously. It was doubtful she'd get the same reaction as one of the boys—Davis, up ahead, was still eyeing the female Tamer warily, as though afraid that she'd bite his head off—but it never hurt to err on the side of caution.

Rika glanced at the girl sharply, but she said grudgingly, "Not exactly. It's what my mom does, and she's always wanted me to be just like her." Shaking her head, she added, "I hate it, though. Sometimes, when I'm feeling…charitable…I'll think about doing something like that for her. Monday was an…example…" The Tamer blinked, then blinked again. Was it just her, or was that tree blurring in front of her eyes?

Mimi sighed regretfully. "Why don't you like it? I mean, I'd love an opportunity like that…"

"…tell you what; once we get back home…I'll offer you one of my shoots, if I'm ever crazy enough to actually get involved with another one…" Rika said slowly, speaking just to try and keep things normal. Maybe it was just her vision, but things seemed a little…mistier. Like there was a sheet of fog moving between the trees, enveloping the landscape.

Mimi seemed not to notice. "Really? I mean, I'd jump at the chance…oh, but I'd be recognized in your world, wouldn't I?"

"…uh-huh…" A thin bead of sweat trickled down the side of Rika's face. Something wasn't right here…

Mimi pouted slightly, then shrugged. "Well, I guess I can make it on my own, then. After all, starting from nothing can be even more rewarding than getting a boost along the way, right?"

"…"

Mimi smiled as her mind drifted into 'daydream mode'. "Boy, I'd enjoy a career like that…" The DigiDestined hummed to herself slightly, not noticing the slight pitch in Rika's stride, next to her.

Thunder boomed from somewhere overhead. Mimi glanced up, then pouted again. "Oh…it looks like it's going to rain. Yep, here it comes…" The DigiDestined instinctively braced herself against the coming rain, pulling her arms against her side protectively.

And as the first raindrop hit the ground, Rika collapsed.

xxxxx

Startled by the sudden noise, Mimi turned back in confusion. When she saw the redheaded Tamer lying in a heap, she shouted in alarm, _"RIKA!"_

Her cry brought everyone ahead of them to a dead stop, then inexorably pulled their eyes back in an immediate about-face. The fat droplets of rain that fell from the canopy above didn't do a thing to hinder their sight.

Renamon was the first to react. Phasing in next to her Tamer, the vixen put a paw to the girl's head. Her violet eyes were hidden by pale, fluttering eyelids, and it was easy to see sweat breaking out above her brow, even despite the quickening rain.

"…she's feverish," Renamon said grimly, lifting the girl in her arms. The rest of the group clustered around her, staring at the fallen Tamer in distress and apprehension.

Jerking her head in the direction of the village, still more than ten minutes away, Renamon said determinedly, "I'm taking her ahead." Without further ado, the Digimon, her Tamer still in her arms, vaulted straight up into the air, turning a full somersault before landing on the ground outside of the ring formed by the rest of the group. A second later, the kitsune shot away into the forest like an arrow, leaving a stunned crew of humans and Digimon behind her.

Takato blinked, then grimaced. Then he began to run, dodging around the small bushes that grew up in his path, following the pair as quickly as he could. The others were only a second behind him.

Within minutes, the rain was pouring. Takato could barely see twenty feet ahead of him, but he kept to his course without a second's hesitation. _'This is bad…this is bad…oh, _please_ let there be help in this village…'_

Lightning flashes and booming thunder momentarily distracted the Tamer and his companions from their determined pursuit. As they looked up instinctively, Takato paid little attention to the branches in front of him. They quickly brought his attention back, however.

A small cluster of hanging twigs slapped the Tamer in the face, causing the teen to grimace in frustration. _'The last thing I need right now is to put my eye out…'_ Takato thought to himself darkly. Ignoring a flash of sharp pain from his cheek as another stray branch caught him in the face, he pushed on, just barely aware of his friends following almost at his heels.

They didn't matter to him at the moment, though. _They_ were safe. Well, as safe as _he_ was at the moment. _'Although,'_ Takato reflected as he barely avoided catching his ankle in the twisting, grasping roots of a tree, _'we might not be very safe out here after all. At least, not at this pace.'_ But he didn't slow down, and neither did they.

xxxxx

They burst into a small clearing, gasping for breath and peering desperately through the downpour. Thunder blasted above them, and Mimi covered her ears reflexively as the sound reverberated through her entire body.

Takato looked around wildly, squinting through the rain, blinking water from his eyes. He was completely soaked, but he paid it no mind. _'Where ARE they?'_

Davis put his hands on his knees, taking deep breaths. The gogglehead might be an athlete, but running for ten minutes straight through an overgrown forest in the pouring rain was definitely a challenge. Glancing around, Davis took a quick head count. _'…seven, eight…all accounted for. Well,'_ he added with a grimace, _'all except for two of us…'_

In front of him, Takato shook his head and put his hands to his mouth. _'Renamon! Rika!'_

No answer except the boom of thunder.

Davis took up the call. _'Hey, Renamon! Where'd ya go?'_

For a moment, there was still nothing. Then, there was a high-pitched voice, calling from the other side of the clearing.

_'…over here!'_

Takato and Guilmon didn't waste a second. By the time the rest of the group began to follow, the pair was already halfway across the small field. Ten seconds later, the two were staring up into a tree, blinking against the raindrops that made their way through the maze of branches and leaves above.

Then, a rope ladder was thrown down, the bundle uncurling rapidly as it fell. Takato looked at it for a moment before he seized one of the limp rungs and began to pull himself up. Guilmon blinked at the measly ladder as his tail twitched in confusion. _'Okay, that isn't going to work…'_

Moments later, a large wicker basket was lowered to the ground, suspended by several thicker ropes at the corners. Guilmon grinned slightly as he jumped in, and then gave one of the supporting ropes a tug. The basket then, every so slowly, began to be pulled up, with Guilmon inside it. Several dismayed little voices could be heard above; a number seemed to comment on 'overweight little piggies', or something to that effect.

Davis, upon reaching the tree, eyed the rising dino curiously, but he didn't waste any time following Takato; the Tamer was already halfway up the ladder. The rest of the group quickly followed, with Guardromon using the rockets on his back to ascend beside Kazu.

When Takato reached the top of the rope ladder, his hands found a wooden platform, slick with the rain, and he pulled himself up, glancing around. His eyes fell upon a small, white cat, which stood upright on two legs. The cat looked vaguely familiar…and for good reason.

The Gatomon raised a furry paw—Takato absently noticed that it didn't wear gloves like Kari Kamiya's partner—and said, in the same high-pitch voice he had heard before, "They're in here." The Digimon pointed out a small wooden hut, built on another wooden platform near the trunk of the tree. Takato blinked at the tree house, and then nodded as he quickly strode across the platform towards it. Davis, upon reaching the top, blinked at the sight of the white feline waiting there, but followed Takato without a word.

Takato, his clothes and brown hair dripping with rainwater, stepped through the open door, blinking as his eyes began to adjust to the light of a small fire.

The inside of the tree house appeared rather comfortable; there was a fireplace of mismatched stone blocks on one wall, with a merrily crackling fire in it, a small wooden table—just high enough to reach Takato's waist if he kneeled down—and a large number of shiny ornaments hanging from the low ceiling. Several of the dangling decorations appeared to be polished coins, or reflective colored bulbs for a Christmas tree. Takato blinked as he caught his disheveled reflection in one of the larger bulbs, close to his face.

What attracted his attention after that, though, were the plump cushions piled up against the back wall of the wooden house. And lying on those cushions, with Renamon sitting beside her, and the light of the fire dancing on her pale skin, was…

"Rika," Takato murmured softly, crossing the room. Taking care not to hit any of the hanging objects, the Tamer knelt down beside Renamon, gazing at Rika's shivering form. She was covered with thick, wool blankets, and she was still sweating, but she shook nonetheless.

Glancing at Renamon, he asked, oblivious to the entrance of Kazu and the other DigiDestined, "How is she?"

Renamon responded quietly, "For the moment, she's…alright. The Gatomon has another of the villagers gathering herbs from a nearby house. She should be back in a few moments."

"Will that help her?" Davis asked as he sat down heavily on a nearby cushion, his brow furrowed.

"She'll be fine," came the voice of the Gatomon as she stepped through the door, leading Kazu and Mimi. The tree house was small—it seemed to have been built with Digimon like Gatomon in mind—so the other Digimon remained outside, looking in through the door. As it was, the ceiling nearly brushed the heads of Kazu and Mimi, who remained standing by the fireplace.

Walking on petite, padded paws, the Gatomon crossed the room and sat down, with all four of her feet touching the floor, saying, "It looks like she picked up a bug from the forest; probably through that little cut the fox pointed out to me. We're familiar with the sort around here." Nonchalantly, the white feline began licking a paw, then sweeping it through her whiskers and the fur on her face. "It's a nasty little infection," she said in-between licks, "but it isn't a real problem when you know how to take care of it. As soon as Mikemon gets back with the right herbs, she'll get better in no time. Probably by tomorrow."

Takato and the others sighed in relief. Renamon, obviously already privy to the news, simply kept watch over her Tamer. Taking a damp rag—Takato hadn't noticed her holding it before—the kitsune wiped away the perspiration from the girl's brow.

The Gatomon nodded, then gestured to the door. "It's getting a little crowded in here, and you all look bushed as kittens, so I'll show you some other huts you can have for now. It's just a short walk across the platforms outside." With that, the feline stood up and started shooing the humans, her pointy ears twitching in good humor as her paws made little sweeping motions.

Takato let himself be herded outside, but before he stepped into the storm, he turned back for a last glance at the fitful sleep of his friend, and the quiet vigilance of her partner.

Sighing, Takato said quietly, "Sleep well, Rika. We'll be here when you wake up." Then he stepped back out, into the falling rain.

XxXxX

/Tokyo. 3:12 p.m./

"So, that's your story?" Ren Sato asked, arching a dark eyebrow. Over the last half-hour, the girl had asked quite a number of questions, and explained some things of her own as well, but she finally appeared satisfied.

T.K. nodded wearily as he leaned back against the trunk of a tree. It had taken about twenty minutes to track down Kari, Jeri, and Joe—taking _great_ care not to be seen by anyone else in the park—and another thirty to tell their story from the beginning. Granted, the story probably wouldn't take that long if you wanted a quick summary, but Ren had been relentless in pulling details out of the five of them. Not to mention their partners.

They had gathered back in the quiet group of trees that the wayward group had first appeared in. Now, they sat in a circle, with Ren's gaze constantly shifting from a DigiDestined to a Tamer, and then to a Digimon. Her gray and green eyes made such looks somewhat unnerving, but she was friendly, if somewhat distant in demeanor, so the others took them in stride.

After a moment, Ren sat back, rubbing her chin. "…that's a heck of an adventure. Getting pulled into a world you never knew existed—and, obviously, I'm not talking about the Digital World in this case—taking down Daemon, winding up in this 'Abyss' between worlds with Alphamon, and then being scattered across those worlds…" Chuckling, she added, "This is _definitely_ worth missing out on the preliminaries for the Holo Tournament."

Shaking her head of brown hair, the girl then said, in a thoughtful tone, "Well, you're lucky you…_ran_ into me, first. There are only two other people living here in Tokyo who you could meet and trust not to run away shrieking about 'anime characters come to life'…"

Henry and Jeri winced, while the DigiDestined and their partners only shifted a little, slightly uncomfortable. The Tamers hadn't had quite as much of an opportunity to become used to the idea that they were, in fact, well-known to a majority of a world's civilized population.

Ren had confirmed Henry's suspicions of Digimon popularity earlier in their lengthy discussion. It turned out that the TV show had run for five seasons, with the latest premiering just that year, and had another one in the works. Henry wondered absently if the sixth season might be a continuation of the third, what Ren casually called 'Tamers'.

An aspirin would be greatly appreciated at the moment.

In any case, the Digimon franchise had swept the world off its feet, with all the merchandise that Henry was familiar with and more. Dozens of video games, toys, costumes, card sets, and, yes, a full-blown MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game, as T.K. explained to the clueless Gatomon), which was now available to access from 'Holo-Domes'; the latest in this world's technology, huge stadiums split up into different arenas and rooms that hosted various 'simulation pads', which thereby supported nearly a dozen different holographic games. And _'Digimon Reality' _was apparently one of the most popular games available to the public. Hence the holographic tournament Henry and T.K. had read about in the newspaper.

In short, it was absolutely insane, as Ren pointed out with a small grin. Digimon dominated in this world, even if the human populace had no idea that they really existed.

Henry rubbed his eyes tiredly. This was all well and good…except for the fact that it was effectively trapping him and his friends in the most deserted area of the park.

Finally managing to shove all of the unexpected information to the back of his mind, Henry asked, "Two others, huh?"

Ren nodded, her face perfectly composed. From a glance, you wouldn't think that she'd suddenly met fictional characters she was very familiar with in the realm of, well, fiction. "There are only about a dozen of us around the world—small number, really, considering everything—and four of us live in Japan. Ben lives in Kyoto, so that leaves the three of us here in Tokyo."

Kari considered her statement. "You keep saying 'us'. And you're…?"

The unusual girl shrugged a single shoulder. "The local DigiDestined/Tamer equivalent. My partner's in the—er, _our_ Digital World at the moment." Nodding her head to the distant skyscrapers of downtown Tokyo, she added, "Obviously, it can be difficult to keep this sort of stuff under wraps around here, so he often hides out there when I'm moving around a lot."

"I thought that you might be something like that," Henry stated, nodding. "When you recognized us, you said we could 'reveal everything', or something like that…"

Inclining her head, Ren replied, "Naturally. If your existence was suddenly revealed to the media, people would start looking for the Digital World. Chances are, they'd find something. And where would that leave me?"

Joe shook his head. "In the hands of people who'd probably stop at nothing to find out everything you know about real Digimon and everything related to them, and your partner would most likely wind up being studied like a lab animal. I imagine some people wouldn't have any qualms about experimenting on a digital form of life…"

"Exactly. Not an appealing lifestyle, for me _or_ my partner. Not to mention the others." Rolling her eyes slightly, Ren added, "Of course, Eric is the only other one who'd be dead serious about taking any action to prevent something like that."

Jeri blinked. "How's that?"

Ren's eyes—the mismatched color of the irises was still disconcerting—took on a thoughtful expression. "The twelve of us have Digimon partners; most of them appeared something around three years ago, when I was eleven." Smiling wistfully, Ren continued, "Well, you can imagine our reactions. Here, our favorite TV show and games suddenly come to life. We're something special, and we've even got the Digivices to prove it." Ren raised her left hand and tapped the electronic bracer strapped to her forearm. The gadget had a dark blue body, with gold trimming around the edges and between the multiple buttons to the left of the screen. "D-Platforms, we called them. Anyway, we suddenly had the coolest Digital gear, the best partners—like we'd say anything else, of course—and we were ready to go out and save the world. Except…"

She shrugged, and her smile took on a slightly amused light. It looked a little regretful, though. "Nothing ever happened. Oh, we explored the Digital World, made some great friends there and with each other, and we trained. Fighting's a big thing in our DigiWorld; you train and train, and absorb data that your opponents lose when they're forced back to Rookie or In-Training, and then…" she trailed off before continuing, "…well, nothing. After two years of waiting for something 'interesting' to happen," now she sounded bitterly sarcastic, as though quoting someone else, "the others got bored. It was like another one of their games to them, after they didn't become saviors of the world. Eric and I were the only ones who were satisfied with what we were given." The teen stared off into the trees, her eyes unfocused, blinking slowly.

After a quiet moment, Kari prompted, "And now…?"

Ren looked at the DigiDestined and smiled slightly. "Well, now everyone else goes about their lives, hiding their partners in their bedroom closets, or whatever else is convenient. They're all great friends with each other, but they rarely go to the Digital World anymore, and I haven't heard about any one of them entering a fight in the past year."

"So, life goes on for them. They have their little closet friends—most of their families know, but of course they keep quiet about it—but they don't do anything about it beyond being 'good buddies'. Their Digimon are lazy, sitting around, sleeping the day away, waiting for their partners to come back from school so they can talk and play video games."

The Digimon present shuddered at the mental image. It seemed almost against their nature to become so…lethargic. Patamon wanted to fly around and perform aerial acrobatics, Gatomon wanted to explore and snatch fish from the market, Gomamon wanted to have fun with large groups of friends who would—hopefully—laugh at his dry comments, and Terriermon wanted to…well, tell bad jokes and make fun of people.

Excepting Terriermon's example, each of the Digimon present wanted action and _life_, not just to wait around and sleep all day waiting—from the sounds of it—for a friend to give you the time of day. It seemed…perverse.

The humans seemed to think so, too, judging from their dismayed facial expressions. "So," Kari said slowly, still trying to wrap her mind around the concept, "you're different?"

"Me and Eric," Ren replied, nodding. "It's always felt like something more to us than a diversion, or entertainment. When we became what we are…" the girl said slowly, trying to choose the right words to express herself, "…we felt like we'd been given a duty. A responsibility. Granted, the most we've ever been able to do for anyone else is helping in the Digital World with stuff like small natural disasters, but we've always tried to be prepared for anything." Smiling more widely, revealing straight white teeth, she continued, "So, we made it one of the central points of our lives. For three years, we've studied and trained with experienced Digimon in the Digital World, fought in real tournaments there—not just this consumer-based pastime that everyone else knows here in the Real World—and made ourselves as strong as we've been able to," she finished, a small spark of warm pleasure glowing in her unique eyes. "Only five others ever made it to the Ultimate level, when they and their partners were enthusiastic about the training. Me, Eric, and our partners discovered how to reach Mega." Gesturing with her hands spread wide in a half-shrug, Ren added, "We might be pretty inexperienced in adventuring or saving the world, but we know we're ready if that sort of a situation ever comes up. You might say we've made it our self-appointed jobs…"

Joe raised an eyebrow. "So, you've never really been in any real danger involving the threat of complete annihilation, but your partners reached Mega through simple training?" It was somewhat impressive, if he thought about it. Anytime _any_ of the DigiDestined's partners had Digivolved to a new level or discovered a new form, it had been precipitated by deadly conflict; the issue had _always_ been forced, and there had always been something important at stake, like lives. But for two Digimon and their human partners to achieve the highest level of strength through _training_ and what sounded like friendly sparring, without any real reason behind it save the desire to be truly prepared, was…surprising.

Ren laughed, a pleasant tinkling sound like small wind chimes. "It took us two and a half years of good hard work, but yeah. We did it." The girl smiled about as widely as they'd seen yet, before she added, "And here we are now."

The group was silent before T.K. gave a low whistle. Henry half-grinned and exchanged glances with Joe and the girls. Terriermon was more vocal.

"Boy, you're really serious about this, aren't you?"

"Terriermon…" Henry groaned, dropping his fist onto his partner's head lightly.

Ren blinked, then blushed. "Sorry, I got carried away…it's just so good to be able to talk about this with someone other than Eric or our partners. It's been so long…" Laughing again, adding a little more natural color to her cheeks, she stood and said, "Well, what are we sitting around here for? We've got to find this True Portal of yours so you can get back together with your friends and go kick some Demon Lord butt!"

"Three cheers for butt-kicking!" Patamon exclaimed, raising a small fist in the air.

T.K. groaned even as he grinned sheepishly. Turning to Henry, the DigiDestined said, "I think Terriermon's rubbing off on Patamon."

"Sorry about that," Henry replied with something of a smirk. Ren rolled her eyes; she had never really imagined this kind of interaction between characters from different seasons of the show. She had usually been too focused on her own Digital reality.

Joe stood up and brushed at the fresh grass stains on the seat of his pants. "Well, now what?" Next to him, Gomamon yawned as the Rookie stretched.

Jeri held up her D-Arc. "We get our bearing and find the Portal, of course," she said, activating the tracking function with the press of a button.

A moment later, the familiar holographic compass appeared above the screen. The arrow on it rotated around the center rapidly for a few moments before slowly settling on one direction. Towards the skyscrapers of Tokyo.

Ren peered through the trees off into the distance. "Hm. We're in Shinjuku, now," Henry, Jeri, and Terriermon blinked in surprise and began looking around at the park more closely, "so we'll be heading into a pretty crowded area if we go in the direction we seem to be pointed in…"

"That could prove difficult," Henry said, tapping fingers on his green sweater pensively.

Ren frowned, turning to eye Jeri's D-Arc and the compass above it speculatively. "You know, I might be able to do something that'll make things easier on us."

"Like what?" Gatomon asked, looking at their new friend in curiosity.

Ren grinned slightly and tapped the Digivice on her left forearm with a slender finger. "Let me put it this way; Izzy would kill to have a look at this piece of work," she said smugly, her fingers trailing along the farthest edge of the device's rectangular body. "Ah-hah. Here it is." With a slight flick of a fingertip, Ren pushed a small button. A moment later, the girl pulled a thin cord out of the Digivice's side, drawing it out to a length of about two feet. "That's as far as it goes. It's the neatest bit of hardware on the D-Platforms, really," Ren said in explanation. Holding up the end of the cord, she continued, "It's an interfacing cable, connected right into the processor. I usually use it to hook-up the Digivice to my computer. Can you believe this thing will play music if you download the songs?" Receiving blank stares in response, Ren sighed. "Anyway, can I see your D-Arc, Jeri?"

Jeri blinked. "Uh, sure." The girl held out the Digivice, which Ren took carefully.

"Thanks. Now, if I recall, there's a little data port up here at the top, behind the clip strap…yep, here it is." As the small covering of the port receded, Ren inserted the end of her cable into Jeri's D-Arc. "Now, give me a second to mess with my controls, and we should be able to get a clearer idea of where we're going…"

Henry raised an eyebrow, watching as Ren tapped at several of the buttons on her blue D-Platform. To the left of the square screen—located where one would normally find a watch on one's wrist—were several buttons, similar to the ones found on the D-Arcs: two elongated buttons pointing left and right, but with an additional two pointing up and down. To the left of those were two rows of four rectangular buttons; they were set in the Digivice's body so that they were barely raised above the surface.

It occurred to that Tamer that, with twelve visible buttons, the device almost seemed a little…excessive. Like it was a large cell phone instead of a Digivice.

Noticing Henry's scrutiny of her D-Platform, Ren half-grinned. That seemed the usual expression of amusement for her. "This baby has a lot of miscellaneous functions. I actually programmed several of them in, myself."

"Huh," Henry replied, looking at the device curiously. "They're versatile, then?"

"Very," was the simple response. "As long as you've got imagination and some programming ability…" A moment later, the D-Platform gave a soft _ping!_ before it suddenly projected a hologram into the air above the screen.

The group blinked, then whistled in appreciation. It wasn't a simple two-dimensional image; it was a rough 3-D map of a small section of Shinjuku, with the park on one side of the glowing image, and a blinking red arrow pointing down at the ground on the other. The miniature buildings and trees were all tinted slightly blue, as though the projectors lacked the ability to display many colors.

"It looks like something out of Star Wars…" Terriermon murmured, reaching out from Henry's shoulder with an ear. The ear passed through the 3-D image without slowing, although the city-in-miniature flickered before stabilizing above the D-Platform.

"You _would_ say that, wouldn't you?" Jeri said, giggling. It looked as though Terriermon's ear had cut through the middle of a number of tall buildings. "He's right, though."

Ren nodded at the device. "The technology industry's had some major breakthroughs in the past couple of years, and the stuff from the Digital World is even more advanced. Actually, I downloaded a map of Tokyo into the processor a couple of years ago, figuring it'd be useful, and I came up with this when I first activated it."

T.K. whistled. "Where can I find one of those?" he and Henry then asked simultaneously. Ren just grinned.

Shaking her head, the girl continued, "Anyway, it looks like our Portal is…" She blinked, then frowned pensively. "…underground."

"Huh?" Gomamon asked from Joe's arms. Straining his neck to see, the little Rookie said, "Why do you say that?"

"I can see that the arrow's pointing at the ground between those buildings," Kari added, "but where does it say that it's underground?"

"It doesn't, really," Ren replied thoughtfully. "It's a guess."

At the arched eyebrows she received, she elaborated, "A couple of weeks ago, Eric was out exploring the city with his partner—they're both good at keeping themselves out of sight when they want to—and they found something a little…off." Gesturing back towards the real city of Tokyo, Ren continued, "A lot of the subway tunnels in this district have been mostly abandoned since last year, when they put in the new monorail. They have a few lines that run all over Tokyo, and they're brand new, so the subway's cut transport through a lot of old tunnels. Anyway, Eric was exploring some of those areas when they stumbled on what looked like a Digital Field."

"Like the kind in our, er, show?" Henry asked.

Ren nodded. "A field of fog. Yeah. But it disappeared just a few seconds after Eric and his partner found it. They went back earlier the next day to see if it'd show up again, and it did. They went back three days in a row, and Eric said that it appeared at exactly the same time in the afternoon each time. Then, it disappeared precisely one minute later."

The group pondered this revelation thoughtfully. "Well, Alphamon said the Portals were usually passed up for some reason or other," Gatomon said after a few moments. "If it's only there for a minute at a time, then that gives a little support to the idea that it's a True Portal."

Henry nodded. "Makes sense."

"Uh-huh," Joe agreed. The oldest of the DigiDestined then looked at his watch. "Hmm. It's already 3:25."

Gatomon let out her breath in a huff. "Then we need to get going, if we're going to make it! We don't even know when it opens!"

The rest of the group nodded. Ren pulled out a dark colored flip phone from a pocket of her…interestingly green overcoat. "I'll send Eric a text message and ask him to meet us there. There's no telling where he is right now…" she said as she flipped open the phone and began punching buttons with a thumb.

T.K. grinned. "Couldn't you use your D-Platform to do that?" he asked innocently, a twinkle of mischief in his eyes. "After all, it's got all these cool features…"

"Sure," Ren answered absently, "but my phone has a better plan. No sense in wasting money on a couple of words."

The others sweatdropped while T.K.'s right eye twitched.

"…right…"

Ren was oblivious to their reactions. Instead, she finished punching in her message and, nodding in satisfaction, tucked the phone back into her pocket. "Alright. We're good to go. A lot of people are going to be at the Digimon Holo Tournament right now, so the city shouldn't be _quite_ as busy as usual. If we stick to alleys and a couple of shortcuts I know, we should reach the subway tunnels in no time, and with little chance of being spotted up close."

Recovering from the earlier…sharing of financial wisdom…Kari said, "Well, let's go, then!"

Holding up a finger, Ren shook her head. "There's just one more thing we need to do on the way."

"What's that?" Terriermon asked, repositioning himself on Henry's shoulder.

Grinning, Ren replied, "Find a computer. I need to get my partner back from the Digital World." Turning, Ren began to walk out of the trees, in the direction of the suspected True Portal. "After all, Dorumon would kill me if I let him miss out on all the fun."

XxXxX

/On The Hill Overlooking The Digi-Village. 3:26 p.m./

Cyberdramon finally broke his silent vigil over the village. "He's down there."

Mako sat up and blinked. "Keramon?"

The Ultimate nodded. Once Mako had hurriedly stood up and brushed the grass from his clothes, Cyberdramon lifted the boy up and set him on his shoulders. "Now we go."

"Finally," Mako muttered as Cyberdramon leapt from the ground, forcing the young Tamer to quickly wrap his hands down around the Ultimate's neck. "Where did he disappear to, anyway?"

Cyberdramon didn't answer, apparently choosing to revert to his customary silence. Mako rolled his eyes. "…probably to talk to his 'sources', then," the boy answered himself, seeing as Cyberdramon wasn't contributing.

It took about six minutes for Cyberdramon to fly back to the town. When they landed in a small alley, Mako took a moment to stretch his cramped legs. Sitting on Cyberdramon's shoulders wasn't the most comfortable way to fly.

At last, after working out the stiffness in his legs, Mako carefully peeked out into the street. It didn't seem to be as busy as it had been earlier, for which Mako was grateful. If Keramon's information brokering was any indication, rumors about the earlier arrests in town would probably be everywhere by now.

Turning back to Cyberdramon, Mako asked, "Where did you see him?"

Cyberdramon walked out of the alley and gestured up the lane. "He took his cart close to the northern gates."

"Right. Then that's where we're going," Mako determined, setting his shoulders.

The pair sped through the town rapidly, not looking directly at any of the local Digimon if they could help it. Still, as Mako reminded himself, not looking at _anyone_ was just as suspicious as staring at everyone warily.

After several tense minutes, the two came within sight of the Keramon. The Rookie had set up shop next to what appeared to be a restaurant, and he was currently chatting with a number of bush-tailed Deramon.

Mako blew out his breath in a huff as he started casting his mind around. _'Great. What to say? Cyberdramon's sudden display of character judgment hasn't given me any bright ideas on how to get the information we need out of this guy…'_

As the two watched, the three Deramon walked inside the restaurant, leaving Keramon alone outside behind his cart. Mako took a deep breath. "Well, I guess it's now or never." _'I guess I'll just have to improvise…'_

Cyberdramon nodded, and the unlikely pair approached the sinuous Rookie.

Keramon seemed to be absorbed in a book he had gotten from somewhere; after a moment or two, he turned a page with a tentacle, his eyes skimming over the words quickly. So, it took him a few moments to notice when Mako and Cyberdramon came to a stop in front of his cart.

When at last the Rookie looked up, he blinked his wide eyes, then put the book into a compartment of his cart. Looking around casually, Keramon said, in a low tone, "I hear your friends got picked up by a patrol."

Mako nodded. "How soon did you…?"

"About two minutes after it happened." Keramon cocked his head quizzically. "You'll be wanting to know where the secret passageways are, then?"

Mako blinked; Cyberdramon, of course, showed no reaction. "How…?"

"I mentioned it, of course," Keramon replied, flicking a tentacle in the air carelessly. "I knew a bright kid like you would remember something like that when it suddenly became of value to you."

_'Great, now I have _two _crazy Digimon telling me how I think,'_ Mako thought in a brief spark of irritation. Suppressing the feeling a moment later, the young Tamer asked, "Well, will you tell us?"

"That's not the right question," Keramon replied, rolling his googly eyes. "Do you have any idea what you _should_ be asking me?"

Mako, taken aback, thought for a moment. Then, he figured it out. "How can we make it worth your while?"

Keramon grinned widely. "_That's _it! My boy, you've got a mind for the market, you mark me…"

Mako grinned slightly, but his eyes were serious. Keramon seemed to notice this, as he said, "Well, let's see now…what could be worth that information? After all, revealing a castle's weakness to an outsider and possible enemy of the Queen is treason, at best…"

Wait a second. "Hang on," Mako broke in, his brow furrowed. "How come you're willing to sell this to us? On the off chance that we _were_ against your queen, shouldn't you be turning us in?"

Keramon snorted. "A couple of reasons, buddy. First, the information isn't worth much if it isn't being sold. Second…well…" The Rookie grinned crookedly. "I think I got a pretty good feel for you guys when we first met. I doubt you mean any harm to any of us locals. You just don't seem the type, and I like to think that I'm a pretty good judge of character." Keramon then winked conspiratorially. "Three…a little chaos and mayhem is good for business. A jailbreak is perfect stuff for the gossip mill, for example. I'll be eating well for two weeks, provided the details are juicy enough." Shrugging, the Rookie then added, "And, even if they aren't, I'm sure I can spin up something interesting to replace the dry old 'snuck in, snuck out with prisoners' routine…"

Mako nearly rolled his eyes. Still, if the Keramon was being truthful—and despite his last comment, the young Tamer couldn't help but feel that he was—then all he and Cyberdramon had to do was come up with something of value to the information dealer.

Sighing, Mako put his small hand to his chin as he thought. _'What could he want? He deals with information, so he might want that in exchange. But what do I know that's worth anything to him? I doubt Cyberdramon will help…'_

Then, an idea came to him. Smiling slowly, Mako asked, "How about a little contest? A battle of wits that increases your reservoir of mind-bending puzzles? I'm sure you'd love to baffle your potential customers while you hook them with your spiel, and I think you'd enjoy a challenge…"

Keramon inclined his head curiously. "…I'm listening."

His smile broadening, Mako said, "Do you like riddles?"

The blue Rookie blinked, then mirrored the young Tamer's smile. "Well, I _certainly_ like the way you think." Tapping a tentacle on the top of his vending cart, Keramon said, "Lay 'em on me, and we'll see if you can confound me enough to part with what you want in exchange for an answer…"

XxXxX

/Council Room of the Great Demon Lords, the Dark Area. 3:29 p.m./

Lucemon slowly trailed a gloved finger through the mucus of his pet's basin, caressing the viscous liquid with his light touch. His bright blue eyes were focused on the murky shadows displayed on the surface of the same mucus.

"Barbamon puts so much effort into avoiding the scrutiny of others," he said softly, his gaze failing to penetrate the veils in his way. "One might almost think he was hiding something…"

The fallen angel chuckled to himself. "It is a pity that the fool's actions will not matter, in the end. No matter what he does, the humans and their little friends will destroy him, just as they have succeeded every single time in the past…"

Flicking his finger through the liquid, Lucemon watched as his sole companion, his great eyeball pet, accordingly moved its gaze to reveal other territories of the Dark Area. Smiling, Lucemon watched as Lilithmon stood upon the roof of her manor, scowling out at the Dark Ocean. Then, the images shifted to show Belphemon in the company of a QueenChessmon, sipping wine in a large hall. After that, Leviamon swimming in his lagoon, and Beelzemon grimacing as the leather-clad Demon Lord paced in his own fortress.

"The only thing that can ever defeat these children is the combined power of the Great Demon Lords. You know this as well as I, don't you, my friend?"

Little waves rippled across the mucus as the demonic eyeball in the center of the great basin rolled around in agreement. Nodding, Lucemon continued, "Yet, we have ever plotted against each other, hoping and planning for the others' downfall. A house divided against itself cannot stand…"

Holding up the hand not drifting through the mucus, Lucemon smiled as tiny particles of data appeared above his palm, shifting in an intricate dancing matrix. "And so, we must truly unite as one…"

"…and our dear Daemon is the first volunteer for this great venture."

Daemon's data disappeared back into Lucemon's body as the fallen angel clenched his fist in emphasis. Below the floor of the council room, vast tentacles clapped together in mirth as the yellow eye swiveled around and around, churning the glistening mucus.

XxXxX

A/N: Anybody else liking what I put these guys through?

Yes, Suzie's grown up a little, and appears to be displaying an impressive intellect. Call it good genes; look at Henry and their dad. Suzie wasn't given much chance to develop in the TV series, so I'm giving her a boost. Same with Ai and Mako, really.

I seem to enjoy making references to established books and movies. Anyway, this one's from The Lord of the Rings. It just popped out of nowhere, so in it went. ;)

My friend Plasmasphere has again earned my gratitude as Beta. Thanks again!

Well, you all know what time it is. That's right, it's…REVIEWING TIME! Just click the little button in the bottom left-hand corner of the screen, and you'll be able to leave me your enlightening comments.

Till next time!


	9. Prison Break

Disclaimer:

"To own, or not to own. _That_ is the question. Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of a vengeful Toei, or to claim that I own Digital Monsters…"

"You seem much calmer today," Izzy says, looking up from his laptop. "And you appear to have waxed eloquent, as well…"

Nolaquen shrugs a shoulder and half-grins. "Such is my personality. Albeit somewhat exaggerated, but it's entertaining."

"Uh-huh." Looking around the massive library, Izzy says, "So, what are you doing here in the library? In the mood for a good book?"

Nolaquen peruses a nearby bookshelf, trailing a finger over the leather-covered spines. "Actually, I'm hiding."

Izzy arches an eyebrow. "Oh?"

Nodding, Nolaquen pulls a large volume off the shelf and begins to flip through the yellowing pages absently. "Guilmon found the sugar."

Izzy sweatdrops. "Then, shouldn't you be stopping him with your omnipotent author's powers before he destroys everything?" the redhead asks, wincing at the mental images resulting from mixing Guilmon with processed sugar.

Nolaquen grins wickedly. "No, no. I'm leaving him to Takato and Rika at the moment. Of course, Rika's still feeling a bit under the weather, so I doubt she's helping much…but, of course, that'll only contribute to the mayhem…"

Izzy blinks. "…I don't get it."

"It's the way life seems to unfold with fictional characters," Nolaquen explains, still studying the dry text before him. "If they—that includes you, really—aren't faced with a life-and-death scenario, a profound discovery that furthers the plot, or simple character development, then, inevitably, the only important things left are…awkward moments in pseudo-romantic relationships."

"…fluff, then?"

"Basically."

Silence.

"…I agree with Terriermon. You're diabolical."

Nolaquen grins widely. "Oh, so you heard about that?"

Izzy turns back to the relative safety of his glowing computer screen. "It would be sort of difficult _not_ to. I'm pretty sure the whole community witnessed the, um, _event_ firsthand…"

The author shrugs flippantly. "What's a few fireworks and a little cannon-fire between neighbors?"

"A dozen restraining orders, apparently…"

"Touché."

A/N: Hm. I haven't updated in more than two months. Bad me…well, my schedule's freed up a little now, so new chapters should be coming in a little more often. Cross your fingers…

Okay, for clarification, I'm adopting a standard method of labeling the different Digital Worlds our beloved heroes are stranded in. These designations will be as follows:

DigiWorld Alpha: Takato, Rika, Davis, Kazu, Mimi, and Co. (meaning, Digimon partners and other assorted characters)

DigiWorld Beta: Tai, Sora, Matt, Kenta, Ai, Suzie, and Co.

DigiWorld Gamma: Ryo, Ken, Izzy, Yolei, Cody, Mako, and Co.

Tokyo/DigiWorld Delta: Henry, T.K., Kari, Jeri, Joe, and Co.

Simple enough, right? That should help keep things straight…er.

And yes, the chapter title is both appropriate to the content and a tribute to the FOX TV show 'Prison Break'. Which I don't own. Come to think of it, what _do_ I own…?

…the answer I'm coming up with isn't very encouraging…

On a side note, I'm going to be out of the country for the last week of June and most of July, so I won't be able to work on DR during that time. Sorry, but that's the way it goes.

XxXxX

**Chapter Nine: Prison Break**

XxXxX

/DigiWorld Gamma. The Dungeons. 3:35 p.m./

"I spy, with my big eyes, something…green."

Wormmon groaned. "I don't like this game…"

Hawkmon sighed in exasperation, but dutifully answered, "That would be Wormmon…"

"That's right! Good job!" Tentomon exclaimed, nodding happily. "How long did you say you've playing this game?"

Hawkmon shook his head. "For the past ten minutes or so, since we gave up trying to break our chains…"

Tentomon blinked his multifaceted eyes, completely discounting the fact that insects don't have eyelids. "Oh," he said sheepishly.

Armadillomon clicked his short claws together, vexed. "When I get my paws on those PawnChessmon…"

"Yes, it was very inconsiderate of them to just lock us up like this and walk away after dropping us through the floor," Hawkmon added quickly, forestalling any more of Tentomon's games. "And to top it all off, my wing is getting cramped…" the Rookie finished, giving the manacle and attached chain on his wing a little shake for emphasis.

Wormmon continued sorrowfully, "They didn't even leave us a TV…"

"…I don't believe that television is our top priority at the moment," Hawkmon responded dryly, eying the cell's wooden door, which was about ten feet away.

"That's too bad. _I Love Lucy_ is on tonight…"

Tentomon cocked his head. "I thought you watched soap operas?"

"No, that would be Ken's mother…" Wormmon replied, puzzled.

Armadillomon raised a paw. "I hate to interrupt, but can we get back on track? Finding a way out of here sounds like a good idea to me."

"Agreed," Hawkmon concurred. Tapping a feathered finger to his beak, the avian Rookie said, "Well, perhaps we could try Digivolving?"

"Digivolving?" Tentomon asked, as puzzled as Wormmon had been a moment before. "How could we manage that? We have no idea where our partners are, and correct me if I'm wrong, but don't we usually _need _them in order to Digivolve?"

Armadillomon shrugged. "It's worth a try, isn't it? What have we got to lose?"

"Point taken."

Wormmon set his nonexistent shoulders determinedly. "Alright! I'm going to try it!" Bracing himself, the little Rookie said aloud, _"Wormmon, Digivolve to…!"_

"…"

"…"

"…well, that didn't work."

"Apparently not," Wormmon sighed as he reluctantly relaxed. "Great. I think I strained something…"

Tentomon moaned. "Wonderful. We're doomed to spend the remaining years of our lives trapped in this cell, wasting away to husks, forced to eat each other to survive…"

Armadillomon, Hawkmon, and Wormmon blinked before turning to each other. "Someone had better figure something out, fast," Hawkmon said darkly, eying their anxious insectoid companion warily. "This is one bird who would prefer _not_ to be eaten by his usual prey…"

xxxxx

Ryo raised his head from his knees. "What's up, Cody?"

The young DigiDestined glanced up from his yellow-gripped D-3. "I'm examining my Digivice," the boy explained. "I want to see if Azulongmon did something to it that could help us."

"Good idea," Ken said, craning his neck to peer over at his companion's Digivice. "Anything so far?"

Cody shook his head. "Not yet. To be honest, I'm not sure where to start."

"Try pressing the buttons," Yolei said, her enthusiasm peaked.

Cody arched a thin eyebrow. "Thanks, Yolei. The thought never would have occurred to me."

Yolei sighed loudly. "When _Cody_ starts getting sarcastic, you know we're in trouble…"

"I have to agree there," Izzy agreed, taking out his own D-3. Scrutinizing the newly modified device closely, the redhead said, "You know, I haven't had much opportunity to study these things closely yet. This might turn out to be a good way to pass the time."

"Pass the time until what?" Ryo queried. "Sure, we might find something useful, but shouldn't we also keep trying to find our way out of this mess? I mean, I know Cyberdramon's resourceful and everything, and Mako's a good kid, but how much can they do to help us from wherever they are?"

Izzy shrugged. "Well, why don't some of us see if we can tackle our problem from a different angle, while the others check out the D-3s?"

Ryo considered the idea. "…well, why not? I suppose it won't hurt to divide the mental workload."

Yolei groaned. "As much as I enjoy tech like this, I think I'll stick to brainstorming for now. I'll let the resident geniuses work out the hardware."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Ken added, nodding. A moment later, the teenager then blinked. "Wait. Was I included in that category of 'geniuses'?"

Yolei immediately leaned into the boy, her face bright with pride and awe. "That's my Ken; modest to a fault…" She then batted her eyelashes repeatedly as she fawned over her…friend.

Ken squirmed and cast around silently for support. He received nothing but a raised eyebrow from Cody, a small grin from Ryo, and a blank look from Izzy.

Receiving no helpful response, the blue-haired genius turned his eyes to the cell's ceiling beseechingly.

No response to his hails, Captain.

XxXxX

/Tokyo Delta. Shinjuku. 3:36 p.m./

Joe looked at his watch. "Ten minutes on the button."

Ren nodded as she glanced around the corners of the alley. "Not bad. This is working out better than I thought." The teenaged girl drew back a moment later, leaning up against the outer wall of the small electronics shop where the group had stopped. It was sufficiently shaded by the surrounding buildings and the setting sun that the humans and their partners were well hidden from the eyes of any pedestrians or drivers on the street.

After a moment, Ren said, "Let's back up a little. I don't want to draw anyone's attention with this." With that, the girl quickly ushered her companions behind the shop, leaving the streets out of sight. With the building's back wall on one side and a shoddy wooden fence on another, the group was effectively concealed from any prying eyes. Unless someone were to open the back door of the electronics store, the crew would be left in relative peace.

Blowing a strand of brown hair out of her eyes with a puff of breath, Ren began to silently tinker with her D-Platform's multiple buttons. The others watched on in curiosity, eager to see how Ren planned to get in touch with her partner from the Real World.

After several moments, Ren's thin lips flexed upwards in a small smile. Raising the Digivice to her mouth, she said aloud, "Dorumon? Find a portal and come meet me. Something's up, and I guarantee you'll be interested." With that, she pressed another button, presumably ending her message, and lowered the D-Platform—which was still strapped to her left forearm—to her side.

Henry gave her a questioning glance. Noticing this, Ren responded, "I just sent Dorumon a message. He'll pick it up in a moment, and then he'll find a nearby terminal to lock onto my transmission. We should see him in a few minutes." Shoving her hands into the pockets of her green overcoat, Ren leaned back against the electronic shop's back wall casually.

"That's it?" T.K. asked, surprised. Ren nodded in confirmation. "I expected something a little more…interactive."

A corner of Ren's small smile quirked upwards a little farther. "What, because of the Platform?" She shrugged her covered shoulders. "The Platforms might be nifty, but there still has to be something to receive and send a transmission in response. As it is, Dorumon will just hear my voice in his head once he comes within range of some communication device in the DigiWorld. He says it was a disconcerting experience at first, when we discovered the function, but it's pretty useful at times."

"I can imagine," Joe said, considering the idea. "Getting in touch with your partner anywhere would be really helpful."

"Actually, I can't usually use it like this," Ren replied. "Contacting Dorumon in the Digital World from here is mostly thanks to this little shop," she explained, pulling out a hand from her pockets and gesturing to the building behind them. "It's the electronic equipment they have in there. According to Eric, it creates a sort of electrical field that the Platform uses to boost the signal strength and send it into the Digital World. I'm not sure how, exactly. But, without a field of this strength, a message can't be sent from one world to another. Otherwise, its farthest range is about a half-mile when Dorumon and I are in the same world." Considering her statement, Ren then revised, "Sometimes more, if there are other D-Platforms in the area."

After a moment, she smiled ruefully. "Of course, _that_ doesn't happen much anymore…"

The group fell silent, and Kari pondered their new companion. _'Ren seems almost…nostalgic, I guess,'_ the DigiDestined thought to herself. _'Like she's remembering fond days from sometime before we got here. But, she has such a tranquil air about her, and her eyes hold something else that doesn't really match up with the sadness of loss. A soft light, like laughter, that makes her look perfectly content with the way things are today. Even if there are only a few people who really understand her and her relationship with Digimon. That separates her from so many other people in her world, but she looks happy.'_

_'It's…different than I'd expect from anyone in her place. If I were her, would I be the same way?'_

Mulling over the girl's unusual personality traits, and the life she must lead, Kari then voiced tentatively, "They don't keep in touch, then?"

Ren shrugged a single shoulder; such a mannerism seemed constant in her, along with that small enigmatic smile.

"Not really. I hear from a few of them every now and again," she said, "but there's not much to say. We've just…gone our separate ways, I guess." Her lips quirking upwards again, Ren finished, "It's alright, though. Eric and I are enough to handle anything that comes up."

"I don't doubt it," Jeri said with a friendly smile. Ren returned the gesture with a warm nod. A few silent moments passed before Terriermon began to fidget.

"So…could you persuade your partner to take the Bullet Train or something? 'Cause I'm not seeing him yet."

"Terriermon…"

"Well, sorry! It's getting kind of boring, and I hate waiting."

Ren shook her head. "Don't worry about it, Henry. As for Dorumon…I'd give it another couple of minutes. He said something about watching a tournament before he left this morning. Knowing him, though, he's probably entered himself…"

"Tournament?" Patamon commented from the top of T.K.'s hat. "Sounds like fun."

Ren nodded slightly. "Like I said before; fighting's a big thing in our Digital World. There are different tournaments arranged all the time. It's one of the best ways to test your skill and power. Dorumon likes the action and the noise. It makes up for staying hidden here in the Real World." The girl then chuckled softly. "It's hard to keep Dorumon under control sometimes. He likes playing practical jokes, and it drives my parents crazy sometimes. He can be pretty creative at times…"

Henry smiled in amusement. Dorumon appeared to be almost a polar opposite to Ren, from what he'd heard of the first and seen of the second.

Apparently, Jeri was thinking something along the same lines.

"You're very calm about all this," the female Tamer said to Ren. "If I was in your place, I think I would have reacted a little, well…more."

"That's true," T.K. added, inclining his head curiously. "Since you first saw me and Henry in the park, you haven't looked all that surprised."

With that sparkle in her eyes and that small smile hovering on her lips, Ren continued, "And I haven't shown much else, have I? Nothing more than mild interest, or a smile if I think something's funny. Which is just about everything, so far, I suppose."

"That about sums it up," Gomamon interjected. Joe rolled his eyes at his partner's cheek.

Ren laughed softly. "What can I say? It's me. I've been that way forever, and everyone I know comments on it. I guess…"

After trailing off, the girl again shrugged her shoulder. "Well, as strange as it might seem, it's who I am. I guess I've just gotten used to it, so people are often confused when they meet me. I don't act much for people anymore."

Looking off into the distance, she added quietly, "It makes for an interesting life."

Silence reigned as each member of the group retreated to their own thoughts. Most of these thoughts, naturally, revolved around the girl leaning casually against the store's wall.

All in all, Henry finally decided, Ren Sato was something of an enigma. But a friendly one, and one willing to help the Tamer and his friends. And that was enough for him.

About a minute later, Ren glanced over into a cardboard box sitting next to the door of the electronics shop. Reaching in, the girl pulled out a loose sheaf of newspaper and began reading it idly, apparently oblivious to anything else.

Several more minutes passed in peace. Before long, Joe looked at his watch, frowning. Seeing this, T.K. said, "Relax, Joe. If we make it, we make it. If not…" He trailed off, his next words unformed by his mouth as his brain caught up.

"We don't get back today," Gatomon finished.

T.K. sighed. "Yeah, pretty much."

"Well, that's not so bad," Jeri said in response. "I mean, if the Portal really appears everyday, then we could catch it tomorrow, right?"

"The issue then would be keeping you guys hidden," Ren interjected, her eyes still drifting over the newspaper page in her hands. "But yeah, I don't see any other problem."

"That's good," Kari said, sounding relieved. "Now it doesn't feel like we have such a pressing deadline."

Henry's mouth twitched as he glanced at Ren; nonchalantly leaning against the wall while reading the newspaper, the girl looked as though she had all the time in the world. _'Somehow, I doubt she was ever frantic about our chances of getting there in time.'_ Henry thought dryly to himself.

As the Tamer observed their new friend, Ren's faint smile reappeared, prompting Henry to raise an eyebrow. As though she had some sort of sixth sense, Ren looked up and caught his look. Nodding to the newspaper, she said simply, "Ultra updated Crisis."

Henry blinked. "…huh?"

Ren's smile grew, and the light dancing in her eyes seemed to take on an even more mirthful energy. "These two hackers, Ultra 007 and Nol 265…they're famous around here for a bunch of different stuff. They cause a little bit of mayhem on the Net now and then, for one thing. Anyway, they're big Digimon fans." Gesturing with the newspaper, she continued, "They write Digimon fan fiction. They're just two of thousands, but they make their presence known; partly because they're really good at what they write, and partly because they hack into the major newspaper offices and insert the latest chapters of their stories right before the papers are printed."

Henry sweatdropped. "Yeah…I figure that'll spread your name around Tokyo…"

Ren laughed, again reminding her companions of the sound of pleasant wind chimes. This small conversation caught Terriermon's attention, who decided to satisfy his curiosity by jumping onto Ren's shoulder and perusing the paper on his own.

"Let's see…alternate worlds…gatherings of super-powered Digimon…constant gags involving Davis and Veemon…heh, that one's pretty funny…ooh, Godzilla!"

"Davis and Veemon?" Patamon echoed, confused.

"Godzilla?" Gomamon similarly parroted, his face scrunched up in bewilderment.

Ren chuckled. "It's a long story…seriously. It'd take you weeks to read everything leading up to Crisis…and it'd probably be a little awkward for you, seeing as each of you are star players."

"I can imagine," Joe said, shaking his head in disbelief. "I think I'll pass today, thanks. Things are strange enough already."

Before any more conversation could be initiated, however, a small beeping sound penetrated the back alley. Ren pulled her left hand out of its pocket, glancing at her D-Platform; the screen was flashing a luminous blue.

"Well, he's on his way."

"About time," Terriermon voiced, jumping down from Ren's shoulder to the ground.

"Terriermon…"

Henry was seriously considering therapy. For Terriermon or himself, though, he wasn't quite sure.

Ren pushed herself off of the store's wall, fixing her eyes on a spot five feet away, to Kari's left. "Normally, we need a computer to open a Gate, but between the Platform, this store's electrical field, and the terminal on Dorumon's end, he should be appearing right about now…"

They waited in silence for several moments.

Terriermon yawned, either in boredom or honest exhaustion. "Well, wake me up when he gets here…"

Then, a silver line of light appeared in midair, right at the point Ren was looking at. The shimmering line seemed to pulse once, then twice, before widening into a rectangle of silver light, about five feet high and three across. Then, a shadow appeared on the ground in front of the gateway; the shadow's caster quickly came within sight, as the Rookie level Dorumon stepped out into the back alley.

Terriermon snorted. "With that sort of timing, you'd think someone was planning this."

"Terriermon…"

Heedless of the verbal byplay, the gateway closed behind a waist-height Digimon the same way it had appeared, but the Dorumon stood still, blinking at the sight of the Tamers, DigiDestined, and their partners. Several long moments passed without words, before the Dorumon said, in a tenor voice, "Ren? I'm assuming this isn't payback for that water-balloon from last night, because I already told you it was an accident…"

One of Ren's dark eyebrows rose slightly. "Actually, I'm still coming up with the right sort of retaliation for that one. No, they're as real as you and me."

"Oh." Dorumon stood there for another moment. "…let me guess. It's a long story?"

XxXxX

/DigiWorld Gamma. The Dungeons. 3:45 p.m./

"Interesting," Izzy said aloud, hefting his purple-gripped D-3 in one hand.

"What?" the others asked, their attention arrested from relative boredom and blank minds.

Izzy replied, "Well, there haven't been any new functions added, as far as I can tell, but the previous ones have been enhanced."

"Enhanced, how?" Cody asked, taking out his own D-3.

"Take the Detect function, for example," Izzy answered. "The range appears to have been vastly increased. I'd say they cover almost half a sector now, if we're measuring distance by the map we use on the computer."

"You mean the grid map?" Ryo questioned. "The one with squares that used to show up black when a Control Spire was in the area?"

"Yes, that one." Izzy nodded in emphasis.

Yolei considered this new information carefully. "If the area is that big now, can we use it to find out where Mako and Cyberdramon are?"

Ryo frowned. "Well, Ai's the one who carries their D-Arc, so Mako doesn't have a Digivice with him right now. And I don't think the D-3s usually pick up any other signals than Digivices and, now, True Portals, right? And it's only thanks to Alphamon that we can use them to find True Portals, so…"

Izzy scrutinized his D-3 thoughtfully. "I think you're right, Ryo. Unless there's a way to widen the tracking parameters, Mako and Cyberdramon's whereabouts are still a mystery to us."

Sighing, Cody then asked, "Well, is there anything else new with the Digivices?"

Ken answered, "Not really, except for the physical appearance." After a moment, he added, "Well, there _is_ something else…"

"What's that?" Ryo queried, an eyebrow raised.

Ken shrugged in response. "I'm not quite sure. It's in the Digital function, where the Digivolution protocols are. It's like…" he trailed off, shaking his head.

Izzy took up the conversation. "Like there are new data pathways in those protocols. Without a computer, I can't read the source code, so I'm only going from the look of the internal components, but if I'm right, then they've become more…streamlined, I suppose."

"Streamlined?" Cody asked in confusion. "What's that mean?"  
Ken's brow furrowed. "It's difficult to explain. Well, to start off, Digivolution is a complex process. Data is taken apart and reconfigured on an incredible scale according to certain guidelines; protocols, in other words. The higher a Digimon's level, the more complicated and sophisticated the protocols become—that's because there's more data to process, and the number of ways the data is utilized is much higher. In the old Digivices, the highest levels were difficult for the both the hardware and software to compute, then carry out."

"I think that was the purpose of the Crests," Izzy interjected. "With them, we were able to access the Ultimate and, in Tai and Matt's cases, Mega levels. They probably served as some sort of additional RAM for the Digivolution data, to help carry out the process. Obviously, with experience, they became unnecessary, but that's beside the point…"

"And the first Digi-Core Azulongmon gave us helped to recharge that function," Ken continued, a touch of excitement on his face; he was enjoying the thought process involved in the discussion. "The older Digi-Destined had given up the ability to Digivolve—which I suppose included the protocols themselves—to those higher levels, in order to repair the Digital World's boundaries, but they were restored by Azulongmon at that point."

"I think I see what you're saying," Ryo said slowly, nodding. "So, what about DNA-Digivolution? That sounds even more complicated than normal Digivolution, in terms of reconfiguring data."

"The D-3s are upgraded models of the old Digivices, right?" Cody asked, before Ken or Izzy could respond. When the two geniuses nodded, Cody continued, "Well, in that case, logic suggests that the D-3s have a greater processing power, better hardware to handle the procedure, and better protocols. Is that correct?"

Izzy nodded again. "Actually, from what I've seen, DNA-Digivolution has its own unique set of protocols. However, you're basically on track."

"Hold it," Yolei interjected. "What about Omnimon, then? WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon were able to DNA-Digivolve years ago, and both Tai and Matt had normal Digivices then."

"That's correct," Izzy responded. "I think their case is different, though. Each time, they were in the Internet when they merged. It's likely that the Net helped facilitate the process. Not to mention contributing the energy for it the first time."

Ryo cleared his throat. "Okay, so we've established normal procedures for Digivolving. What about the new D-3s?"

"That's the interesting part," Izzy said, holding up his D-3. "The internal components—by which I mean the little electronic memory boards and processors, et cetera—are smaller, and they're not as crammed together as they used to be. This is great, but I also think that, in addition to the upgraded hardware, the Digivolving _software_ has become more efficient. If I'm right, it'll be easier for our Digimon to reach higher levels, with less energy and time needed for each transformation. Of course," Izzy cautioned, "this is pure speculation, and we have no way to test my hypothesis yet, but there you are."

A moment of silence reigned as each member of the imprisoned group took in the implied ramifications.

Finally, Ryo let out a low whistle. "Wow. That's something else."

Cody nodded. "If Ken and Izzy are right, then we're going to be playing in a whole new ball-field."

"Once we get out of this cell and reunite with our partners, anyway," Ken said, a frown gracing his face.

Yolei, whose face had taken on an expression of wonder, sighed loudly. "Yeah, no kidding." Taking a deep breath, the girl then yelled, at the top of her lungs, _"MAKO! CYBERDRAMON! WHERE __**ARE**__ YOOOUUU?"_

Ryo's eye twitched. His hands were clasped tightly over his ears, mirroring his other companions. "…I don't know, but I'm almost positive that they heard you yelling for them…"

Cody added dryly, "Assuming they're not rolling around on the ground in agony, they're probably on their way right now."

xxxxx

/The Digi-Village./

"A man…er, Digimon, is stranded on a desert island with nothing but a calendar. There is no edible food on the island. When he is discovered one year later, he is not only alive, but has a full belly. How did he survive?"

Keramon tapped a long finger to his chin thoughtfully. "…hmm…that's a tough one…"

He, Mako, and Cyberdramon had settled down inside the restaurant, leaving Keramon's information cart outside. Thanks to the blue Rookie, the three had acquired a private booth near the back, where they would remain hidden from all but the most determined eyes.

After a moment, Keramon grinned widely, his face seemingly split open by his mouth. "The man ate the 'dates' out of the calendar." Then, he added, with another grin, "And he could also have eaten the 'Sundays' for dessert."

Mako sighed, but he was grinning as well. For a while, he could almost forget that he was trying to acquire information vital to rescuing his friends.

Cyberdramon merely sat quietly, watching the other occupants of the restaurant. That left Mako and Keramon to their game of riddles.

The Rookie took a swig out of his glass, savoring the sweet taste of lemonade. After he smacked his lips in appreciation, the Digimon gestured with a gangly hand. "Alright, let's here your next one."

"Give me a second…" Mako replied, casting around for another riddle. He had been throwing tricky word problems at Keramon for nearly fifteen minutes, stopping only for drinks and some thinking time. The young Tamer felt he was beginning to scrape the bottom of the metaphorical apple barrel.

"…what gets wetter and wetter as it dries?"

Keramon snorted. "That's an easy one. A towel."

"Yeah…" _'Boy, I've got to come up with something smart fast…'_

Mako was slowly beginning to sweat. All of his good riddles had already been guessed correctly by his opponent. That left him with simple wordplay and other common riddles; unfortunately, Mako had realized that wordplay was one of Keramon's specialties, and the young Tamer was running out of normal riddles.

"What word, when written in capital letters, is the same backwards, forwards, and upside-down?"

"…noon."

_'Didn't expect him to know that.'_

"…it has a bed, but never sleeps; has a mouth, but never eats; has two legs, but never walks; always murmurs, but never talks."

"…a river."

"What is no sooner spoken than broken?"

"…silence."

"…this is as light as a feather, but no one can hold it for long."

"…hmm…oh. One's breath."

_'Agh…think, think, THINK…something unique, something that'll blow his mind…'_

"This thing, all things devours: birds, trees, beasts, flowers; gnaws iron, bites steel, grinds hard stones to meal; slays kings, ruins towns, and beats high mountains down."

Keramon inclined his head for a few moments. "Time," he then answered casually.

_'Nuts. That's the last riddle I take from 'The Hobbit'…well, it's time to change my strategy…'_

"What object has keys that open no locks, space but no room, and you can enter but not go in?"

Keramon blinked. The Rookie opened his mouth, but then closed it as a frown creased his face. Mako gave an inward sigh of relief, but it was tempered by tenseness in his hands. _'I don't know how much these Digimon know about the human world, or if they've even HEARD of humans, so this may turn out to be impossible for Keramon to solve. Once I tell him the answer, he might say it's unfair, if he doesn't even know about it…so this riddle may just turn out to be a time-buyer…' _

Keramon sat mutely for almost a minute. His wide mouth occasionally moved minutely as the Digimon silently formed words. As time passed, the Rookie began swaying in place, still wearing a puzzled expression.

At long last, Keramon shrugged his slim shoulders, a small grin appearing on his face. "Well, I'm stumped. What's the answer?"

Mako drew a breath, mentally preparing himself to be disappointed. "…a keyboard."

Keramon blinked, then cocked his head. "A keyboard…?" Not noticing Mako's small wince, Keramon continued, "Now where have I heard that word before…?"

A moment later, the Rookie grinned widely. "A _keyboard!_ Like one of those artifacts from the other world! The one that's used with 'computers!' I remember now…" Shaking his head, Keramon continued, "I've never seen one, myself, but I once convinced a traveling Datamon to describe one to me in great detail. Yes, the 'space' and 'enter' buttons…" The Rookie then chuckled in amusement. "You're lucky, Mako. I'm probably the only Digimon in the entire area who understands that riddle—once you told me the answer, anyway. Of course, that also means that I've lost, so I guess I owe you something you want…"

Mako blinked as Cyberdramon turned his head to survey the two. "You mean…?"

Keramon nodded, with another grin. "That's right. The passageways. I tell you, I think I made a pretty good deal. A load of fun new riddles for some architectural information…not bad at all."

Shaking his head, Keramon downed the last of his lemonade. "Well," the Rookie said, wiping his mouth with a long hand, "if you want to help your friends, now's the time to be leaving. I can have you inside the dungeons in less than twenty minutes, so there's no point in wasting time." Sliding out of the booth, the Digimon began weaving his way through the restaurant's filled tables, with Mako and Cyberdramon right behind him.

When they stepped outside, Keramon excused himself momentarily to secure his cart. As the Rookie slid away, Cyberdramon turned to Mako. "You see?" the Ultimate asked in his gravelly tone.

Mako grinned up at his companion. "Yeah. You were right; I _did_ convince him to tell us how to help our friends!"

Cyberdramon nodded, with something like a crooked grin momentarily gracing his face. Mako—though surprised by the Digimon's expression—nodded in response. When Keramon returned a few moments later, the trio set off down the street, each satisfied in his own way.

XxXxX

/DigiWorld Beta. 3:55 p.m./

Beelzemon surveyed his surroundings with a scowl. The Demon Lord had never liked sand much; it was coarse, gritty, and it ended up getting everywhere. At the thought, the Mega drew one of his shotguns and peered at the weapon closely. Fortunately, it appeared that the weapon was relatively clean, for the time being.

Holstering the Berenjena shotgun, the Demon Lord gazed out at the horizon. Somewhere out there was a group of DigiDestined and Tamers, along with their partners…

Narrowing his three eyes, the Mega looked behind himself at the city towering above the red-hued sand. There was nothing for him there, but it seemed that the humans were heading his way, so the city must be their destination.

Making up his mind, the Demon Lord turned on his heel, striding towards the metropolis. From the sounds and smell of it, there could be some fun stuff there to tide him over while he waited for his prey…

Perhaps this trip wouldn't be such a waste after all.

xxxxx

Kenta raised his eyes to the clear, deep blue heavens. "What I wouldn't give for a glass of water…"

"Water…" MarineAngemon echoed wearily from the Tamer's shoulder.

"We _have_ been in this desert for almost two hours," Sora conceded, licking her dry lips.

"The fight with those Scorpiomon and SkullScorpiomon is what's really taking its toll right now," Tai said, frowning. "That was exhausting, and _we_ weren't even the ones doing the fighting!"

Matt, Ai, and Suzie nodded in agreement, each wearing similar facial expressions of growing fatigue.

Biyomon, walking next to Sora, shrugged. "I'm not feeling too bad, actually. A little sore, and I'd love a nap, but I feel like I can walk for hours still."

"Same here," Agumon agreed, scratching his chin with a claw. "Still, it'd be nice to know if there's someplace around here where we can rest."

"And get a good meal," Gabumon added, nodding.

Ai sighed. "Great, now _I'm_ hungry…"

Kenta groaned before putting his fingers in his ears. "I can't hear you, I'm not thinking about food, I'm perfectly happy right now…"

Grinning, Matt asked, "Hey, Kenta. Is the self-hypnosis working?"

"No…" came the dejected reply.

Chuckling, Tai turned his gaze forward, focusing on the horizon. There had to be an oasis or _something_ around them. Of course, with their luck, they'd probably end up walking for days.

_'Just like old times…except I'm pretty sure we don't have as much time to spare this time around. Plus, we weren't separated from each other before…'_

Ai, who was now officially tired of the landscape, was allowing her eyes to roam across the sand of their own accord. As such, she was the first to notice something unusual.

Doing a double take, the young Tamer said aloud, "Huh? What's that?"

"What's what?" Impmon asked, unclasping his hands from behind his head. Ai simply pointed off to the side in answer.

A small, rectangular object was sticking up out of the sand some fifteen feet away. The group stopped and looked at the curious sight, puzzled.

Suzie, shrugging, began walking towards the item, with Lopmon trailing close behind her. A second later, Kenta blinked and—MarineAngemon still on his shoulder—began to jog after her. "Suzie, I've got a bad feeling about this…"  
Apparently ignoring the older Tamer, Suzie stopped and, after a moment of hesitation, plucked the item from the sand. Staring at the object in her hand in confusion, the young Tamer said slowly, "It's a playing card…"

In the next instant, the sand around Ai and the DigiDestined's feet was violently parted by several dozen dark blurs. Tai yelped in surprise as he fell backwards onto the seat of his pants, staring up in surprise as a host of more playing cards floated around him and his companions in a spherical formation.

"What the…?"  
His question was partially answered when the cards flashed brightly; in the next instant, each card was connected to several others—above, below, and to the sides—with static streams of bluish electricity. Blinking in bewilderment, it took Tai a moment to realize what was happening.

Each card floated motionless at least three feet away from the group on all sides, forming a vague outline of a hemisphere around them. Starting at the level of the sand, cards were arrayed in midair all around and above the crew. With electricity coursing through the air between each thin item, the situation became obvious: Ai, the DigiDestined, and their partners were trapped inside a cage of cards, with electricity for bars. The 'cage' greatly resembled a climbing structure from a child's playground, with the faint geometric faces formed by the cards and the electricity connecting them.

Suzie and Kenta blinked. "…well, that's something you don't see every day," Kenta finally commented. "I never imagined you could really be imprisoned with a deck of cards."

Matt grimaced as he eyed a line of electricity nearly within arm's length of his face. "I don't think I want to touch this and find out how powerful a shock I'd get…"

"Good idea, Matt," Sora said grimly. "So, how do we get out of this?"

"You don't. At least, not yet."

Tai groaned. "Great. _Another_ stranger who appears out of nowhere…these last few days have been weird enough…"

"My humble apologies. If I had known you'd be so put out by my appearance, I would have sent you a letter instead."

The speaker suddenly appeared in midair, in front of the card dome, tossing a silver cape around him with a flourish. The being stood close to six feet tall, and besides the cape, was dressed in bright, elaborate garments of red and gold. His hands were covered in white gloves, and he wore a pair of flexible leather boots, with tops that came up to mid-thigh.

His face was surprisingly human; his nose, mouth, and eyes were in the correct proportions—although his irises were red—and, despite the pointed ears nearly concealed in blond-brown hair, Tai might almost have taken him for an average human being walking the streets of Tokyo.

Frowning, Tai said aloud, "What do you want?"

The figure inclined his head a fraction, peering into the DigiDestined's eyes intently. "To test you."

"Test us?" Biyomon exclaimed, her shrill voice almost a squawk. "What _for?_"

"Answers later." The being turned his crimson eyes to Kenta, MarineAngemon, Suzie, and Lopmon—all of whom stood a little ways away, watching anxiously—and said, "For now…let the games begin."

XxXxX

/DigiWorld Gamma. Outside The Castle Walls. 4:05 p.m./

"Well, this is it," Keramon said, halting in front of a small stream flowing through a grate; the grate itself was set in the stone walls of the great castle where Mako and Cyberdramon's companions were being held captive.

Mako surveyed the drainage carefully. "Is there a way to get into the castle's sewers from here?"

"Actually, no."

The young Tamer frowned. "Then what are we doing here?"

Keramon winked. "That's the secret." Turning, the blue Rookie walked a few paces away, trailing his gangly hands along the stone blocks of the outer castle walls. Several moments later, Keramon came to a stop, nodded, and brought up his other hand to touch one particular block.

"Oh…" Mako exclaimed. "You're going to push open a secret door?"

Keramon shook his head, grinning. Mako blinked in confusion.

"Watch and learn."

With that, Keramon _did_ push the stone block. However, instead of exposing a passageway, all Mako and Cyberdramon heard was a faint _click!_

Nothing else happened. Keramon stepped back and faced the two, a lazy grin on his face.

"Now, we go back the way we came."

Mako's eye twitched. "How far back?"

Keramon pointed. "Just to that little grove of trees over there."

Shaking his head, the Tamer, and Cyberdramon, followed their guide to the group of trees. The leaves of those trees were full of green leaves, and the gnarled trunks were covered in a brown, smooth bark. In the center of the trees was a small clearing, filled with undisturbed grass.

In this clearing, Keramon came to a halt and flung himself onto his stomach. As Mako and Cyberdramon watched, the Rookie began weaving his way through the tall grass, apparently searching for something on the ground.

Chewing the inside of his cheek impatiently, Mako watched the Rookie intently. With some sort of switch in the castle walls, and something else—perhaps equally important—in the grass nearly two hundred yards away, it wasn't too surprising that this passageway was a mystery to others.

As Mako thought this to himself, Keramon gave an audible _ah-ha!_ of discovery. Standing, the Rookie pulled up what appeared to be a trapdoor; the concealing device was covered in the same grass as the kind that surrounded it, suggesting to Mako that the trapdoor had something like sod growing on top of it.

As Keramon pulled up on the trapdoor—it resembled something that a hunter or sniper might build and use to hide from his prey—Mako said, in an excited tone that suggested a little impatience, "Are we going through an underground tunnel to reach the dungeons?"

"Not exactly," was Keramon's response. Frowning, Mako approached the opened trapdoor and beheld…

A large red button mounted on a metallic base, jutting out of the bare ground around it.

As Mako stared incredulously, Keramon pressed the button with a long finger. Blinking his bulbous eyes, the Rookie nodded and proceeded to flip the camouflaged trapdoor back over the button.

"There. That's another step finished…" Looking around at the surrounding trees, Keramon then murmured to himself, "Now where is that secret knot? It's always so hard to find…"

Mako palmed his face. As Keramon approached a nearby tree, the young Tamer said in a muffled tone, from behind his hand, "Cyberdramon? Is this getting as ridiculous as I think it is?"

Cyberdramon grunted noncommittally before following the Rookie. Mako stood there for a moment before he groaned and began to pursue the two Digimon.

Now, Keramon was running his hands along the tree's twisted trunk, peering closely at it all the while. A few moments later, another small _click_, similar to the one from the castle wall, echoed from within the tree. Smiling, Keramon reached out and pushed open a cleverly concealed door in the trunk; this created an opening about five feet high and three across. Just perfect for Mako…even if Cyberdramon would have to squeeze through.

Turning, Keramon said, "Here we are."

"At last," Mako grumbled to himself. Then, he said quickly, "Wait, you're sure this is the actual secret passageway?"

"Yep."

"No more buttons?"

"Nope."

"No more concealed doors or special levers?"

"Nuh-uh."

"Any fiendish booby traps we have to avoid?"

"…actually, now that you mention it…"

Mako moaned and shook his head miserably.

XxXxX

/DigiWorld Beta. The Desert. 4:17 p.m./

Suzie's D-Arc had identified the strange Digimon as Gamblermon: an Ultimate level Demon Man of the Virus type. The Digimon's attacks seemed—from the Digivice's brief description—to be based mostly in cards and dice: tools of the gambling trade, in other words. In addition, these attacks seemed to include luck as a large factor in the effectiveness or power of his techniques.

Now, Gamblermon and MarineAngemon were locked in a fierce battle of wills. The two Digimon eyed each other from either side of their battlefield intently, showing no quarter. Crimson and aquamarine gazes clashed together, sending chills down Kenta and Suzie's spines.

After a long moment, Gamblermon said slowly, "Well?"

MarineAngemon, not breaking eye contact with the Ultimate, laid down his trump card.

Literally.

"Ace! Ace!"

Kenta and Suzie jumped up from their sitting positions, whooping in victory. Lopmon, sitting next to MarineAngemon, clapped her ears together politely. Gamblermon merely arched a neat eyebrow.

"Impressive. That's four out of nine games. I don't often lose with such frequency. Not to mention the fact that I just taught you how to play…"

From inside the imprisoning dome of cards about twenty feet away, Tai's right eye twitched madly. "…I'm about to throw myself into this electrical field. Maybe that'll put an end to this."

"I won't be far behind you, pal," Matt added jadedly, grinding his palms into his temples.

Gabumon shook his head. "It's not that bad, guys! After all, he hasn't attacked us yet!"

"Yeah!" Agumon and Biyomon agreed, nodding in emphasis. Sora just shook her head, silently marveling at the absurdity of the situation.

"Humph," Tai grunted. Flopping back onto the sand, the former gogglehead stated, "An attack, I could handle. Heck, I can understand some sort of twisted mind game…but this?" Gesturing, Tai continued, "We're trapped inside this little cage of playing cards—which, by the way, looks like any old deck you could buy in a secondhand store—while our captor and our friends are playing games. They might as well just hand us some bread and water and finish acting the role of lazy guards!"

"Tai, if one of us was out there instead of Suzie or Kenta, we'd probably be forced to do the same," Sora said sternly.

"That's the point, Sora," Matt interrupted. "He's not forcing them to do _anything!_ He just said, 'While your friends take a little break, why don't we have some fun?' And, lo and behold, fifteen minutes later, they're gambling together like old college pals, or something!"

"I doubt those two's parents would like this, anyway," Tai grumbled, watching as Gamblermon deftly dealt out another set of cards from up his frilly sleeve. "Do you honestly want their parents accusing us of being a bad influence?" At this, Impmon snorted, while Ai giggled quietly from behind her hands.

Sora sighed. "Alright, alright. Give them a few more minutes, and then we'll demand to know what's going on."

"Sounds like a plan," Matt replied in a disgruntled tone.

Yet, despite this, the blond teen eyed the game their friends and would-be 'captor' were playing carefully. It really _was_ a little intriguing.

xxxxx

_Feel free to skip this part if you don't want to read all the rules in exhaustive detail. If you agree with my Beta, instead of the hardworking author, and think that this section is unnecessary, just scroll down. And down. And down…_

The rules, apparently, were simple. On the surface, it appeared like a variation of simple poker: five cards were dealt out to each player, with another three set face-up on top of a small wooden board that Gamblermon had procured with a flourish from inside his silvery cape. Next, each player looked over their cards carefully, while hiding them from the view of their opponents.

From Gamblermon's earlier verbal instructions, it seemed that each player tried to accumulate the best possible trio of matching cards, using cards from both one's hand and the board. For example, at the end of the first round, Gamblermon had won by laying down three Jacks; similarly, MarineAngemon had won the third round by revealing two tens, combining them with another ten already on the board. Players had a chance to gain new cards by turning in old ones, with a limit of two (out of the initial five), and receiving the new ones from the deck (which was back in the possession of Gamblermon, the dealer, this round).

However, the next phase of the game was where it got interesting. Once each of the game's players had their cards ready, the dealer took a single die—which, until this point in the round, rested on the wooden board—rolled it around in his hand, and cast it back onto the board.

The number of pips—in baser terms, the hollowed dots on a dice—showing face-up determined the outcome of the game. Once the die had settled on the board, the players would look at the die and continue accordingly. How did they do this? As Gamblermon explained, there were two possible outcomes, or categories, resulting from a toss of the die. The first category—Gamblermon casually called this 'First Cat'—was 'filled' if the die showed one, three, or five pips on the top side. If it showed two, four, or six pips, then 'Second Cat' was announced by the dealer.

These two categories were essential in making or breaking a player's hand. If 'First Cat' was announced, then a high Trio won the round; for example, a player with three Kings would beat another player with three tens, while the three tens beat three twos. However, if the die showed 'Second Cat', then a holder of a _low_ Trio would be the victor. Under Second Cat, three twos would trump three fives, as three fives would beat three Jacks, which would in turn defeat three Kings.

The Aces in this game were special. If a player had three Aces, then, after the die was cast and the bets were placed, the player could announce them as either the lowest possible hand or the highest possible hand. Simply put: a Trio of Aces beat any normal set.

The final stage of the game followed the toss of the die. After the Cat was announced, the players would lay down a single card, and begin betting. After going around the circle, players would lay down another card, and bet again. After that, the final cards were shown, and the player with the best hand took the pot (however, if one or two of the player's Trio was already on the board, then he or she abstained from laying down the third card of the Trio, and simply continued betting until the end).

In this way, bluffing was an effective tool of the game; one might not have a Trio of cards, but that didn't stop them from fooling others. Of course, this meant putting your hard-earned money into the pot, but the risk could be worth it if your opponents were unsure of their own cards and dropped out of the round.

Gamblermon had explained three last rules: if no one had a Trio, then the money already in the pot was left for the next round. Next, holding two Trios was a possibility: with three cards on the board, and another five in the hand, this was a nice insurance policy when wagering your money. Having two Trios trumped any other hand; you simply used the secondary Trio to force a win over everyone else with just one set—even if a single Trio had a better value than your own strongest cards. If two players somehow managed to hold two Trios each, then the one with the single best Trio—under the current Cat—was the victor. Finally, if a Trio showed up in the cards on the board at the beginning of the round, they simply counted as a second Trio for all players.

And _this_ was the game that the five beings played on the board in the middle of the desert. Kenta and Suzie had been leery of playing, at first, but as Gamblermon had continued to patiently explain the rules and begun to dole out the cards, the two Tamers had mostly forgotten that their other friends stood a little ways away, trapped by the Ultimate's own devices.

xxxxx

Well, back to the action, because I'm sure some of you are asleep by now.

Gamblermon shuffled his deck of cards quickly and neatly, occasionally impressing his fellow gamers with near-impossible tricks. At one point, the Ultimate bridged the deck into the air, forming an arch that fell into his other hand; yet, the arch had a spiral twist to it above Gamblermon's head, causing Kenta and Suzie to _ooh!_ and _ahh!_ in appreciation.

Gamblermon grinned slightly, revealing dazzlingly white teeth. "Oh, this is nothing. You should see me with swords and torches." With one last flourish, the Ultimate placed the deck onto the wooden board. After cracking his gloved knuckles, Gamblermon began dealing out cards as fast as greased pigs.

"…'greased pigs'?" Kenta asked aloud, incredulously.

_…I'm going to have to hire a general contractor, or something, because that fourth wall keeps getting pulled down…_

"Sorry."

Clearing his throat, Gamblermon brings us back into the flow of the story. "Hands are dealt…and the table has its cards." Said 'Table's Hand' was composed of a Two of Spades, a Seven of Clubs, and a Queen of Hearts.

Scrutinizing his hand with a perfect poker face, Gamblermon then said, "Kenta? How many cards would you like?"

Chewing his lower lip in concentration, Kenta slowly withdrew two cards from his hand and set them down on the board. "Two."

Nodding, Gamblermon took the top two cards from the deck and pushed them in front of the Tamer. Kenta then took the new cards and began reevaluating his hand. Turning to MarineAngemon, Gamblermon questioned amiably, "And you, my friend?"

The petite Mega—somehow managing to hold five cards with his stubby, fingerless hands—chimed, "One!"

After that, Suzie took two cards while Lopmon abstained from a change of her hand. Gamblermon himself exchanged a single card, casually glancing at his new one only briefly, before turning his attention back to his companions; it was impossible to divine anything from his facial expression, so his fellow gamers were, as usual, left in the dark as to the possible strength of his hand.

Surveying the eager faces before him, Gamblermon smiled slightly before picking up the die and rolling it around in his free hand. Kenta, MarineAngemon, Suzie, and Lopmon followed the movements of the hand closely, their eyes clearly showing excitement.

At last, the Ultimate cast the die onto the board. It landed with three pips facing up.

"First Cat," Gamblermon announced. Without even glancing at his own hand, the Digimon continued, "Lay down your first card." As cards were laid down around the circle, Gamblermon said aloud, in a formal tone, "Kenta: Jack of Diamonds. MarineAngemon: Nine of Clubs. Suzie: Six of Hearts. Lopmon: Queen of Spades." With a simple flourish, Gamblermon plucked a single card from his own hand and set it down in front of him. "Dealer: King of Hearts."

Kenta and Suzie groaned, but they quickly resumed silence as the Ultimate continued, "The first round of betting has commenced."

Next to him, Kenta hesitantly picked up two of his silver poker chips—more goodies procured from nowhere by Gamblermon before the first game. After studying the chips for a moment, Kenta tossed them into the middle of the board, below the 'Table's Hand'.

MarineAngemon didn't hesitate before matching his partner's wager. Following suit, albeit with a slight frown that she failed to hide, Suzie put in two of her own silver chips.

Lopmon, after matching the stakes, put in an additional five bronze chips. "I raise," the Rookie said in a polite tone, her dark eyes moving from one opponent to another thoughtfully.

Gamblermon nodded before putting in three silver chips. "I match, and raise another five bronze."

Kenta sighed. "Fold." Placing his hand facedown onto the board, Kenta leaned back to watch the rest of the game.

After MarineAngemon and Suzie had put in additional bronze or silver chips, Gamblermon said, "Next round." He then nodded to MarineAngemon, who promptly put down his next card.

"…MarineAngemon: Nine of Diamonds. Suzie: Six of Hearts. Lopmon…Two of Clubs." Dropping his formal tone, Gamblermon nodded at the chocolate-colored Rookie. "A good choice. If you have the one of the last Queens, then you obviously can't reveal it, but laying down a Two suggests that you may hold two Trios. With three more cards in your hand, it's certainly a possibility."

Lopmon nodded in appreciation, but she gave no other indication as to whether or not she was pleased with the Ultimate's praise.

Finally, Gamblermon put down his second card. "Dealer: King of Spades," he said, reassuming the stiff tone of the dealer. "The second round of betting has commenced."

Some distance away, Tai, with crossed arms, watched the game progress impatiently. Tapping a finger against his arm, he turned to Matt and asked, "Are you following this?"

Matt nodded as he watched the gamers begin to bet more chips. "I think so," the blond replied. Frowning, the teen continued, "MarineAngemon may have another Nine, and Suzie might have another Six. It's anyone's guess who'll come out ahead there, but Lopmon has two possible Trios, and the Queens are pretty high all by themselves. Finally, Gamblermon might be holding a third King, which would beat everyone else unless Lopmon _does_ have two Trios."  
"In other words," Gabumon added, "it's between Lopmon and Gamblermon, right?"

"That's pretty much what it looks like," Matt responded. "I guess we're about to find out…"

Indeed, the last round of betting had concluded; Suzie, pouting, had folded, and now sat back like Kenta with her arms crossed huffily. Sora, from inside the prison of cards, smiled slightly at the childish look.

Nodding, Gamblermon intoned, "Lay down your final cards."

As one, the three remaining players set down their hands, and began to examine their opponents' newly revealed cards.

After a moment, Gamblermon smiled widely. Over several groans, he said, "Well, well, well…the dealer does not have a Trio." As something of an aside, the Ultimate said warmly, "No Kings for me, this round." Continuing, he said, "Lopmon does not have a Queen, but she _does_ have another Two: this one is Diamonds."

"_However_, using a strategy that can be highly effective if it is not noticed, MarineAngemon has revealed, not another Nine, but the last two Queens from his hand." Bringing his gloved hands together, the Ultimate clapped lightly. "Under First Cat, MarineAngemon wins with a Trio of Queens."

Inside their spherical prison, Ai said aloud, completely befuddled, "Huh?" Her sentiments were echoed by Biyomon and Agumon.

Sora let out an _ah_ of understanding. "Oh, I get it. MarineAngemon was playing red herrings before."

Tai blinked. "In English, please."

"She means," Matt interjected, smiling slightly, "that our little Mega was using his Nines as a distraction. He really had two Queens all along, but he didn't want anyone to know that. So, he put down two Nines to make everyone less interested in his cards." The blond finished, with a pleased tone of voice, "He passed right under their radar."

"Oh…" Ai breathed. "That was really smart of him, wasn't it, Impmon?"

Impmon shrugged. "I guess. I could 'a done da same t'ing, ya know."

Ai giggled and wrapped her arms around the Rookie's neck, nearly choking the little imp with her tight grip. "Yeah, I know you could have, Impmon…"

Impmon merely gasped, his eyes bugging out, "Ai! Can't…breathe…!"

Rolling his eyes, Tai regarded the gamers with a new determination. Pounding a fist into the open palm of his other hand, the former gogglehead said firmly, "Alright, they've had their fun. Now it's time for some answers!"

No doubt hearing Tai's exclamation, Gamblermon stood up and brushed the sand off of his red trousers. "Well, since I've intruded upon you and taken up nearly a half hour of your valuable time, I suppose I _should_ explain myself," the Ultimate said casually as he reached down and began picking up his cards, chips, and other assorted playing equipment.

As Tai's eye twitched in annoyance, Gamblermon made his things disappear inside his silver cape, drawing the fabric around himself like a cloak. When it unfurled, the playing board, the deck, and the bag of chips had vanished from sight.

"Hmm…" Gamblermon mused aloud. "Where to begin, I wonder?"

The Ultimate stood silently, tapping a finger to his chin. The DigiDestined, Tamers, and other Digimon waited patiently, more or less, for the enigmatic being to respond.

After several moments, Gamblermon nodded, and began, "My story is something of a tragedy, really." Smiling slightly, he added, "Well, that may be an exaggeration, but it sums things up nicely."

Looking directly at the imprisoned humans and their partners, the Ultimate said amiably, "But, I can't tell my story with you trapped in that contraption of mine, now can I? I've been rude enough as it is."

With the wave of a hand, the strands of electricity flowing between the cards that made up the spherical prison disappeared. The cards, still floating in midair, then flew towards Gamblermon, stopping above his hand. As the group watched, the cards neatly arranged themselves into a deck, which promptly vanished as the Ultimate closed his fist around it.

Relieved at their release, yet still cautious, the former prisoners slowly made their way to stand by their other friends, facing the unusual character before them.

Crossing his arms, Gamblermon then continued, "Truly, my tale is a simple one. Not long ago, I was crossing the desert, on my way to DigiVegas. You know how it is: the lure of wealth, fun, and general merriment." Shaking his head ruefully, the Ultimate continued, "But, as fate would have it, I was suddenly attacked from behind, and I promptly lost consciousness. Rather embarrassing, really, as I'm often considered not only an excellent card player, but a fighter as well." At this, the Digimon shrugged, a modest smile gracing his striking visage.

Raising an eyebrow, Matt said, "Okay…?"

"Well, when I came to, I realized that a very valuable item had been stolen from me," Gamblermon said, a slight frown replacing his smile. "Thinking it lost for good, I continued on my way, although I regretted the loss deeply." The frown disappeared from his face as the Ultimate added, "But, Lady Luck appeared to have graced me with her favor. No sooner had I arrived in DigiVegas and checked into a luxurious suite, that I discovered, to my great surprise and delight, that my stolen possession had become a reward in a high stakes game at the largest casino in the city!"

Tai, Matt, and Sora exchanged incredulous looks. Venturing to comment, Sora said slowly, "And…what does that have to do with us?"

Gamblermon smiled. "Patience, my dear. Now, I immediately approached the sponsors of this particular tournament, and demanded that my property be returned to me, as it had been stolen. However, I was coldly informed that the item in question now belonged to them, and that if I wanted it back, I would have to _win_ it back." Sighing dramatically, the Digimon said, "It really is a lamentable situation, is it not?"

The group pondered this 'situation' quietly. After a few moments, Kenta asked, "Well, I still don't see how we can help you…"

It's quite simple, really," Gamblermon replied with an even wider smile. "You see, after I realized that I would not be able to get my property back any other way, I immediately reserved two seats in the game: one for myself, and one for another player. My hopes were that, if I could find a player of reasonable skill who truly sympathized with me, and had nothing to lose by playing with me, my chances of winning the game and recovering my property would be doubled."

"Ya mean," Impmon interjected, "dat you wanted somebody who'd help you win dis game and get yer stuff back…and dat, if dis other player won instead 'a youse, he'd be willin' ta give you yer stuff and walk away without a word?"

"Well, not precisely," Gamblermon replied, raising a neat eyebrow. "I'd make it worth this other player's while, of course; one can hardly expect someone to do something for someone else for nothing. At least," he amended, "not in DigiVegas."

Tai was beginning to catch on. "And this game…?"

"Is called 'Triple Cubed.' And, as a matter of fact…" Gamblermon continued, smiling again, "…it's the very game I've been playing with you for nearly twenty minutes."

Silence greeted this statement.

"…so, basically, you want one of us to help you win this 'Triple Cubed' tournament and get one of your personal effects back?" Matt asked, frowning.

Gamblermon nodded. "To be precise…" He raised a finger. "…I'd like _you_ to play with me in the tournament."

The group blinked, and looked at the being who the Ultimate was pointing at.

MarineAngemon cocked his head and chirruped, "Me?"

"Precisely," Gamblermon replied, lowering his hand. "I'd be forever in your debt; this item is very valuable, and more significantly, it holds a great deal of importance to me. Sentimental reasons, and all that."

Another period of silence.

Chewing his lip, Tai motioned his friends around. "Okay, group huddle." Turning to Gamblermon, the former gogglehead asked, "Do you mind giving us a minute to talk this over?"

"Not at all," came the congenial reply. The immaculately dressed Ultimate then strode several yards away, and, folding his hands behind his back, turned his gaze across the reddish horizon.

Once Tai had decided that the Digimon wasn't interested in eavesdropping, he faced the others in their circle. "Okay, a couple of questions. First: is this guy for real?"

The others exchanged thoughtful looks.

Suzie was the first to speak. "Well, I kind of like him," the young Tamer said, brushing sand from her jeans absently. "I mean, he's really friendly, and I think he actually wants us to help him."

"Friendly, huh?" Gabumon asked in a slightly irritated tone. "Then why'd he surprise us with his little house of cards like that? He didn't need to make us think he was going to attack us." Several of the others nodded in agreement.

Kenta said, "Well, let's ask him." Before anyone else could say anything, Kenta turned to Gamblermon and asked loudly, "Hey, Gamblermon? Why'd you trap our friends before you started teaching us how to play?"

"Because," came the casual reply from about twelve feet away, "I wanted to catch your attention. Otherwise, how would you have treated a strange Digimon who appeared out of nowhere, beseeching you for your assistance? At least, my way, I had a captive audience who was willing to hear me out."

Tai and Sora rolled their eyes while Kenta and Ai sweatdropped at Gamblermon's choice of words.

"And, in addition, I dare say that I have something of a flair for the dramatic." The Ultimate chuckled lightly before turning his attention back to the stunning landscape.

"Gee, I never would have guessed," Biyomon said dryly, still surveying the Digimon warily.

"Hmm…" Tai murmured. Turning back to the group, he said, "Okay, next question: can we really afford to stop looking for the True Portal to help him? I mean, we need to get back to the others, and the sooner, the better in my book."

Agumon nodded in express agreement, while the others had similar looks on their faces.

Still, Ai sighed. "Well, we really _should_ help him, shouldn't we?" At the questioning looks she received, she continued, "After all, since when have we ever turned down an offer of help from someone? Isn't that what being a DigiDestined or a Tamer is all about?"

The others' faces took on thoughtful expressions as each considered the youngest Tamer's words. From the way Ai put it, it was almost their responsibility to aid those in need. And, despite the unusual circumstances surrounding this instance, that guideline certainly seemed to apply.

At long last, Tai heaved a sigh. "Alright, alright. All those in favor of helping Gamblermon say 'aye!'"

He was met with an enthusiastic chorus of _Aye!_ Nodding in confirmation, Tai turned to Gamblermon, who continued to watch the distant horizon, apparently paying little attention to the nearby group.

"Alright, Gamblermon; you've got yourself some friends."

Said Ultimate turned to face his new companions with a cheery smile. "Well, I'm glad you decided in my favor. As I said, I'm in your debt, win or lose. Preferably 'win', of course."

"A' course…" Impmon echoed, clasping his gloved hands behind his head.

Matt let out his breath in a huff. "Well, if we're going to do this, let's get on with it. Where _is_ DigiVegas, anyway?"

Gamblermon turned and pointed. "Straight that way. It's another twenty miles or so; we shouldn't have a problem getting there."

Suzie blinked in recognition. Taking out her pink-ringed D-Arc, the young Tamer quickly consulted her compass.

"…guys? My Digivice says the True Portal is that way," she said, looking back up. "That's the way we were going before."

Sora raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

Gamblermon spoke up. "If _you're_ looking for something as well, then chances are it'll be in DigiVegas. There isn't anything else noteworthy around here for close to two hundred miles."

"Huh," Agumon said. "I guess it's a good thing we met up with you, then."

Smiling, Gamblermon said amiably, "Most definitely. I know enough about DigiVegas to help _you_ while we're there. Perhaps we can consider this an exchange of services?"

"Sounds good," Tai said, nodding.

"Good! Good!" MarineAngemon squealed happily, clearly excited about playing in this tournament with his new friend, Gamblermon.

XxXxX

/DigiWorld Gamma. The Dungeons. 4:20 p.m./

Mako sighed regretfully as he fingered a new hole in the loose sleeve of his shirt. "If Cyberdramon had been a second slower…"

Keramon shrugged helplessly. "Hey, I only know the basic layout of this place. I had no clue there would dart launchers set in the wall."

The young Tamer made a face. "What about the flying razor disks, or the fake floor with spikes beneath it? Or the pendulum blades hanging from the ceiling, the super thin tripwire, or that collapsing ceiling from five minutes ago?" he asked indignantly.

Keramon puffed himself up, nearly as annoyed as his companion. "Trust me, if I'd known about any of those things, I would have asked for a whole lot more than just riddles to convince me to come down here with you. Like, maybe, a chest of gold…"

Mako let out his breath in a huff. "Yeah, I guess you're right," he replied, his face flushing in frustration.

From nearby, Cyberdramon peered closely at another thin wire; this one was suspended between the walls of the small corridor at about chest level (for the Ultimate, anyway). Bringing up a razor-sharp claw, Cyberdramon cut the wire deftly and watched the two ends fall weightlessly to the floor.

With a snort, the Ultimate turned and said, in his gravelly tone, "These are new."

Keramon frowned. "New? You mean all these traps were installed recently?"

Cyberdramon nodded in response. Scowling, Keramon murmured, "Well, that explains why I've never heard about these before. Still, who would want all this stuff down here? The guards are usually enough to take care of any prisoners in the dungeons."

Mako frowned thoughtfully. "Could it be because of our friends?"

Keramon snorted. "If so, then someone _really_ wants to keep them down here; permanently, from the looks of it. The question is…why?"

The trio silently pondered the situation, taking advantage of their momentary resting place. Ahead and behind, the stone corridor stretched on into darkness.

At last, Cyberdramon growled, "Demon Lords."

Mako nodded. "It has to be. But, why would this QueenChessmon send her goons after us?"

"If you've got enemies," Keramon replied thoughtfully, tapping an elongated finger to his chin, "then they may have followed you here from wherever you're originally from. I don't think it would be _too_ difficult to manipulate our beloved Queen into believing you were dangerous to her." Grinning darkly, the Rookie continued, "And her actions in such matters are usually pretty extreme."

"I guess that explains the traps, then," Mako mused, eyeing the cut wire now lying on the stony ground. "At least one of the Demon Lords must be here…"

"Whispering in QueenChessmon's ear," Keramon finished, nodding.

Mako shook his head. "Why are these things never easy?"

Shrugging, Keramon replied, "Then life would be boring, wouldn't it?"

He was answered with a groan. "Boredom's better than losing your head to some stupid trap."

As if to accentuate the young Tamer's statement, a metal rod covered in wicked, curved spikes suddenly burst from the wall next to Cyberdramon with a loud _VOOSH!_ Faster than the eye could follow, the rod buried itself in the opposite side of the corridor with a _THUNK!_, leaving a very dangerous looking metal cylinder suspended halfway between the floor and the ceiling.

If Mako were to walk forward, the top of his head would just brush the bottom of the sprung trap.

Cyberdramon, displaying an eerie calm, merely looked at the long object disdainfully before ducking underneath it and continuing on down the corridor.

Behind him, Mako and Keramon stared at the lethal trap and the departing Ultimate, eyes twitching.

"…I'm sticking close to him from now on. He never seems to get hit."

"…that sounds like a good idea, Mako. Let's just hope our luck holds out until we find your friends. This dungeon is something of a maze, and I've got a feeling that the whole place is booby trapped…"

"Terrific."

XxXxX

/Tokyo Delta. 4:23 p.m./

Stopping, Ren announced, "We're here."

"That took _way _too long," Terriermon said from atop Henry's head. The Rookie peered out at the deserted street from the alley's entrance, looking for any sign of movement.

Joe shook his head in response to Terriermon's comment. "Considering we've been sticking to the back alleys, I'm not surprised. You can't exactly take a direct route that way," the elder DigiDestined replied.

"At least we weren't spotted," Ren said calmly. Without waiting for any sort of reply, the teenage girl cautiously stepped out onto the sidewalk. Turning her head swiftly to survey the area, Ren nodded in satisfaction. "Good. There's no one around."

Turning back to face the rest of the group, the girl pointed up the sidewalk and continued, "There's the subway entrance. This line's been discontinued, so I wouldn't worry about meeting anyone down there."

"And the coast is clear now, right?" Jeri asked hesitantly, stepping out next to Ren and glancing at the terminal's entrance.

Ren nodded. "This area's pretty deserted. I thought the media's estimates of the Holo Tournament's attendance were off, but I guess they were accurate after all."

"Well, that's good for us, right?" Gomamon interjected from Joe's arms.

Gatomon nodded. "The best way this could work out is if no one sees us at all."

The feline received a number of nods in response. After a few tail flicks, Gatomon then said, "I'll go first and see if the coast is clear. I'll attract a lot less attention than the flying guinea pig—"

"I'm really starting to hate that name…"

"—or the joker with flippers—"

"Who, me?"

"—or the furry walking dino."

"…I'll decline to comment, thanks."

Nodding in satisfaction, Gatomon took off down the sidewalk on all four paws, her tail twitching above her back. Kari and the others watched the Champion's progress carefully, occasionally glancing behind them or across the street to be sure that no one was around.

The subway terminal was about thirty-five feet from the alleyway. It took Gatomon only a few moments to reach the concrete stairs, where she looked down carefully. Seeing no one inside the terminal, the feline turned and waved a paw, motioning her friends forward.

T.K. turned to Ren. "Should we do this one at a time, or all go at once?"

"How about a compromise?" Ren replied pleasantly. "Take it in pairs. Dorumon and I'll go next." And so they did, darting along the sidewalk like material shadows. Fortunately, in addition to the street's abandoned state, the sidewalk was shrouded in the late afternoon shade of the surrounding buildings, adding an element of stealth to the pair's movements.

Once Ren and Dorumon reached Gatomon and the terminal's entrance, T.K. and Patamon took a quick glance around before following. Those two were then trailed by Kari and Jeri, who were the first to begin making their way down the terminal's steps to the hallway below.

The only complication arose when Joe and Gomamon were halfway between the alley and the terminal. At the moment when the older DigiDestined—carrying Gomamon in his arms—stepped into the shadow of one of the nearby buildings, a red car appeared seemingly out of nowhere, roaring down the road. Freezing instinctively, Joe turned his body slightly to shield his partner from the driver's view; grimacing, Joe stood as still as he could, repeating a silent mantra of _'You can't see me, I'm not that interesting to you anyway, and you _certainly_ wouldn't care about my Digimon friend…'_

Whether or not the chanting worked, the red car continued to speed by; the driver was singing and drumming his hands on the steering wheel, apparently oblivious to his surroundings, for which Joe was thankful, but also equally concerned. After all, reckless driving is the path to the dark side. Reckless driving leads to inattention; inattention leads to accidents; accidents lead to suffering…

…ahem. Continuing on.

When at last Henry and Terriermon reached the others, they were all breathing a little harder than usual, with the possible exception of Ren and Dorumon. After all, Dorumon appeared to be used to hiding and avoiding detection, and Ren simply appeared placid, giving away little emotion but that of mild interest in their current situation. From what the DigiDestined and Tamers had gathered, this was her usual expression; Dorumon had confirmed as much earlier while talking with the otherworldly group in the alleyways.

When the entire crew had assembled at the bottom of the concrete steps, below the street, Ren said calmly, "Not too much farther, now." Turning on her heel, she and her partner proceeded to lead their new friends through the darkened hallways of the subway; apparently, no one had changed any light bulbs since the line had been decommissioned. Thus, the lighting was suitably dim, revealing only enough of the area to keep the group from feeling its way across the floor.

After several minutes of silent walking, they came upon one of the terminal's platforms, where a single subway train sat glumly upon the tracks. The train's cars were empty, and several window panes were broken. Ren quietly explained that local kids would sometimes come down and explore the tunnels, despite the stern admonitions of their parents and other adults to avoid that kind of behavior. More often than not, the juveniles would leave graffiti on the tiled walls or break the cars' windows for kicks. This news didn't quite reassure the others of their chances of remaining concealed, but they continued on determinedly, regardless of the fact.

Approaching the front of the subway train, which stopped short of the platform's edge, Ren turned and said, "Watch yourselves when you jump down. The tracks aren't carrying any electricity, but you don't want to sprain your ankle on them if you land the wrong way." After delivering her warning, Ren carefully jumped down beside the rails before moving aside to allow more room for the others.

Several moments of quiet scrambling later, the entire group began walking down the darkened subway tunnel, which was lit only every now and then by an orange light set in the tunnel's ceiling. The tunnel itself had two sets of rails, between which the humans and Digimon marched in single file line. Despite Ren's assurances that this line had been shut down long before—which the condition of the area seemed to attest to—the majority of the group couldn't help but feel leery of walking where underground trains had once barreled along, carrying hundreds of passengers around Tokyo.

After a minute of walking, Ren checked her D-Platform's holographic map, quietly noting their location and that of the True Portal. "Not much farther," she said aloud. A moment later, she smiled widely. "It looks like Eric's beat us here," she added, looking up at the others.

Turning her attention back to her Digivice, she tapped one of the buttons next to the device's screen. In response, the 3-D map projected above it shifted to show a close-up cut-away of the tunnel; at the far end of the projection, obviously inside the simulated tunnel, a glowing sphere hung suspended above the ground.

"That signifies a D-Platform: Eric's, to be precise," Ren explained. "If I could get the hologram to be any color but blue, that little sphere would probably be silver or black. Those are his colors."

"His colors…?" Jeri asked, bemused.

Turning off the holographic map, Ren raised her D-Platform. "Digivice colors. Black body and silver trim. Obviously, it's different than mine." Lowering her arm, she asked, "Shall we?"

"Yeah, let's get this show on the road," Gomamon chimed. "We're losing time standing around here."

Nodding, Ren began leading the way again; this time, the girl stepped onto the subway's rails and began walking forward on them with her arms spread to her side for balance. A moment later, a grinning Dorumon jumped up behind her and mimicked her posture as he followed.

Terriermon shook his head bemusedly. "She's enjoying this, isn't she?"

Jeri nodded. "You heard her earlier; she's been waiting a long time for something important to do. I guess helping people from other worlds counts."

Kari giggled as she, too, stepped onto the old rails. "And besides that, this is fun! Come on, Gatomon!" the DigiDestined added cheerfully as she carefully followed Ren and Dorumon down the tunnel.

Rolling her eyes, Gatomon nimbly leapt onto the tracks and pursued her partner casually, walking along the metal beam like it was a whole road unto itself.

"Cats and their balance," Terriermon said in exasperation as Henry and the others continued on. Henry chuckled in response.

"Momentai, Terriermon." To which the Rookie promptly replied, "Yeah, yeah…"

After another minute or two of walking, Kari came to a halt behind Ren, who had stopped at the sight of two shadowy silhouettes, each hidden from the pale orange light emitted by a single bulb in the ceiling above. Leaning to Ren's side, Kari watched the dark profiles closely, an expression of curiosity on her face.

Noting Kari's attention, and the lack of movement from the hidden figures, Ren raised her voice and said warmly, "It's okay, Eric, Velocimon. You don't have to hide from us."

A moment passed—during which Henry and the others jostled for position to see—before the unknown figures revealed themselves.

At first, all they could see was a spot in the distance, which reflected a bit of illumination from the failing bulb above. In a moment, the spot resolved into the blond hair—so light it was nearly white—of a tall boy garbed in a black trench coat. It was difficult to tell whether or not the coat was made from leather or heavy cloth, but regardless, it stretched to the teen's ankles and jet black tennis shoes. Zipped up with a silver zipper, it completely covered its wearer's body, leaving only the teen's head, face, and hands exposed.

After staring for several seconds, Henry managed to make out the face of the teenage boy. Hazel eyes of green and gold calmly surveyed the unlikely group, showing little more at first glance than a keen mind and an intelligent curiosity that immediately predisposed Henry to like the stranger. Those eyes, however, also held small embers deep within the pupils, not unlike the dancing lights in Ren's eyes; in this case, though, the embers were slightly cool and distant, buried under who knew how many layers of thought and personality.

A faint pattern of gold, blue, and green marked the angular face of the Digimon that followed. Reddish down, like that of a crimson robin, covered the creature's body—which was somewhat smaller than Guilmon's, as it barely reached Eric's waist in height. A long, slim tail of muscle and bones slowly twitched behind the Digimon's body, helping Henry to come to the conclusion that this one was some kind of dinosaur variety.

Two sets of silvery claws, which glinted metallically in the meager lighting, tipped four long fingers on two arms, which were held loosely to the Digimon's side. Similarly, the Digimon had large talons of the same silvery color on his feet; from a glance, they were as sharp as razors, and Henry could hear a faint _click!_ as the wicked curves skirted the tunnel's concrete floor.

Eric and Velocimon.

For a moment, Henry pondered a slight mystery. _'Funny. Agumon and Guilmon share a lot of the same physical characteristics, and this 'Velocimon' fits the same mold. Is it some kind of unwritten rule that at least one major DigiDestined/Tamer/whatever has to have a partner who looks like a raptor?'_

The Tamer was brought back to reality when Eric said mildly, "I see you brought friends, Ren." The teen's voice seemed to match his eyes; slightly detached, yet engaging at the same time.

Ren's enigmatic half-smile reappeared as she replied, "Yeah. It's been an interesting day so far." Her comment received several quiet chuckles from the DigiDestined, Tamers, and their partners.

Turning to the otherworldly visitors, Ren said, in a stage whisper, "He's actually astonished right now. He just doesn't show it. One of his tells is the way he arches that left eyebrow when he's at a loss for words."

"Hm." Eric's voice reflected a dry amusement, though it was hard to tell how much the feeling—and, indeed, his 'astonishment'—affected his own thoughts. "Whereas you, on the other hand, probably got over the shock about fifteen seconds into it."

Ren nodded, a wider smile gracing her face. "True enough."

"Typical," the blond youth responded, shaking his head in something approaching disbelief.

These were some curious characters, Henry decided. Friendly, with enough quirks and unusual personality traits to require some serious study before they made sense.

Sighing, Eric then began, "Putting aside the inevitable 'How the _heck_ did you meet anime characters in the middle of Tokyo?' question, I'm curious as to why you wanted to meet next to our mystery portal. It's a little out of the way."

Apparently, the local DigiDestined/Tamer equivalents weren't _too_ incredibly surprised by Henry and Co.'s appearance. Maybe it was like a common immunity to unexpected events that was shared among those connected to Digimon. After all, Henry reflected, hadn't his own first encounter with living Digimon in effect desensitized him to some of the curiosities of other worlds and beings?

While Henry bemusedly thought this, Dorumon answered, "They suddenly showed up here in our world, and, through a course of events that would take some time to relate, we've come to the conclusion that their ticket home is the portal you and Velocimon found here."

"Ah." After a moment, Eric, his penetrating gaze drifting from one person to the next, asked Ren, "You _did_ tell them about the timing of this thing, right?"

Ren nodded in response, her own gaze sliding to the darkness behind Eric and his silent partner in question.

Eric shook his head. "Sorry, but you guys missed the portal by about an hour. It seems to appear at exactly 3:27 in the afternoon."

Several groans were heard; Joe's was the loudest, as the elder DigiDestined immediately began thinking over their situation. _'Great. Now we have another twenty-three hours to stay hidden from prying eyes. We'll have to find someplace to hide out, a way to get food and water, maybe some medical supplies, and…'_

Joe, as the Child of Reliability, is one of the best people to ask to plan for some unforeseen complication. He'll immediately come up with a list of needed supplies and other resources, as well as a set of rough guidelines to follow in order to maximize the chances of survival.

Give him another five minutes, and he'll have a detailed schedule of the day's activities, which would mostly include: hiding, running in the shadows, foraging for food, avoiding unwanted attention, etc., etc. He's also got enough contingency plans to put the military to shame.

Eric smiled slightly, though his eyes still held a cool intensity, like that of a dim, white dwarf star. "Hey, don't worry about it. It works like clockwork, so we'll just take you somewhere safe until tomorrow. In the meantime…I'm Eric Young."

T.K. chuckled. "I guess we don't really need introductions on our end, do we?"

"No, not really. Obviously, I'm a fan." Eric replied, his grin widening momentarily before fading into a slightly amused expression. "But anyway, this is Velocimon," he added, gesturing to his left.

Velocimon inclined his head in something between a nod and a bow. "It's a pleasure," the raptor stated in a surprisingly cultured voice. "This is something of a surprise, but not unpleasantly so."

Henry raised an eyebrow. "Uh, thanks." Smiling slightly, the Tamer asked the Digimon, "Do you mind if I scan you? I've never seen a Digimon like you before."

"Not at all," Velocimon replied congenially. Nodding in thanks, Henry raised his D-Arc and waited for the device to process the information it was gathering.

"…okay, Velocimon. Virus type, and Rookie level. Your attacks are…Searing Flame and Raptor's Claw."

"That's right," the Rookie confirmed, nodding his head. "Have you heard of one of my species' Champion forms? Raptormon?"

Henry thought about the name for a moment. "Sorry, doesn't ring a bell."

Velocimon spread his hands, palms-up, in a shrug. "That's to be expected, I suppose, when you're from another world. Really, I prefer becoming MetaDracomon, anyway. We might be slightly less well known in that form, but it's a nicer package. Other Velocimon always get jealous when I Digivolve, so I guess I prefer not to follow the pack…"

"Yeah, enough ego-boosting, pal," Eric interjected. "Lord knows you don't need it…"

Velocimon nodded in concession, an amused smirk dancing on his face.

Kari, who had been looking at Eric's face closely, then commented, "You're an American?"

The teen turned to the DigiDestined and replied, "As a matter of fact, yes. I live in the U.S. when I'm not visiting Japan. I was planning on entering the Holo Tournament today—Ren's probably filled you in on that, among other things—but then I got a cryptic text message from my friend here," he inclined his head to indicate Ren, who half-smiled again, "and my attention was diverted. So, here I am."

"You speak Japanese very well," Joe said. "Fluently, even."

"Thanks. I try," Eric replied, nodding modestly. After a moment, the blond teen stuck his hands into the pockets of his trench coat. "Well, what say we take a trip to the Digital World? That would be the best place to go, if we don't want to attract attention. You can fill me and Velocimon in on all the details on our way." A brief look of curiosity and confusion managed to assert itself on the teen's face before it was replaced by a more placid expression.

"That's what I was thinking," Ren added. "I couldn't come up with anything better for the time being."

"We could hit your apartment later," Eric said aloud, his hazel eyes beginning to gaze off into the distance as he thought. "Your parents are still gone for the week, right?"

"Business trip in Osaka, yes," Ren confirmed. "We can spend the night at my place and some of the next day before we come back here. They won't mind."

"Good. Sounds like a plan." Turning back to the assembled humans and Digimon, Eric said, an eyebrow raised, "Well, what do you guys think? Up to a little dimensional travel?"

Henry laughed. "After today? Only just. But seriously, can we do this with a minimum of sneaking through alleys? I've had enough of that, too, for one day."

"Agreed," Jeri added, shooting an agreeing smile at Henry. "I could use a change of pace." Her sentiments were quickly echoed by T.K., Kari, Joe, and their partners.

"And later, can we find something to do that doesn't involve_ us_ as the center of attention?" Gatomon asked. "It gets a little tiring after awhile."

"There's a tournament going on in the DigiWorld!" Dorumon stated, grinning. "We can go watch it before dinner!"

"Always thinking with your stomach, aren't you?" Ren lamented, shaking her head hopelessly.

T.K. laughed aloud. "That's a Digimon for you."

Eric nodded. "Definitely. You should see Velocimon sometimes. When he's hungry, he won't stop to cook the meat before he chows down. It makes such a mess…"

"Gross!"

"Eeww!"

"Bleh!"

Velocimon shrugged. "What can I say? When you've gotta eat, you've gotta eat."

XxXxX

/Barbamon's Mansion, the Dark Area. 4:36 p.m./

Barbamon tapped his fingers against his chair's lacquered arm impatiently; his long nails made constant clicking noises as the fingers drew up and down in a constant rhythm.

_Click. Click. Click. Click-click-click-click…_

Clenching his fist in frustration, Barbamon scowled. _'This is taking too long. It's just out of my reach…nearly within my grasp…but, for all the power that I sense from it, it still remains _that_ far away.'_ Furrowing his brow, Barbamon thought to himself, _'Could it be toying with me? Could it be sensing my hunger, my own power, and dangling itself in front of me like bait? TAUNTING me?!'_

The Demon Lord nearly snarled, but he managed to check himself. _'I'm letting this get to me. I've been waiting for this for years…I can wait a little longer. I WILL endure!'_

Drawing a deep breath, the Demon Lord turned his attention to the viewing crystal in front of him. Reflected along countless prismatic faces, the Demon Lord could see Leviamon finally opening a portal underwater and sliding through it smoothly. A moment later, the slash in space closed behind the crocodilian Demon Lord, leaving Barbamon with a view of an empty lagoon.

"So, that great oaf has finally set out." Barbamon pondered the current situation carefully, trying to otherwise occupy his increasingly volatile mind. "Belphemon is well on his way with his own little group of brats. He does love his little toys, doesn't he? Beelzemon is waiting, as is Lilithmon. However much they despise each other, they think so much alike." Chuckling darkly, the old man continued, "Wouldn't they love to kill me for saying that aloud?"

"And…that leaves me…and Lucemon." Suppressing another frown, he murmured, "My own servants have been dispatched, and I await their results with great eagerness…but Lucemon…"

Turning his attention back to the viewing crystal—which was now a foggy white, empty of images—Barbamon said quietly, with an ounce of venom, "You are up to something, my old friend, but I know not what it is."

A moment later, the eldest Demon Lord chuckled malevolently. "Of course, it doesn't matter. How could it? Whatever he could do pales in comparison to my own grand designs. Oh, how he and all the others will rue the day they were formatted…"

His malicious gaze drifted, almost of its own accord, to that side door in the wall.

_'Soon…so soon…it will ALL be mine…'_

XxXxX

A/N: My OCs are turning out to be interesting characters to write. I wanted to set them in a world where they were pretty much alone, except for each other, yet give them personalities that were not only comfortable with their circumstances, but thrived in them. Definitely a learning experience. One has to wonder what they'd be like in real life…

As a treat, links to Ren and Eric's D-Platforms can be found in my profile! Thanks to Plasmasphere, the Beta, for making those.

I know, there was nothing from Takato and Co. from DigiWorld Alpha this chapter. Poor Rika's having a little downtime, and everyone else with her. You'll understand why I'm giving them a break soon enough…

And yes, Rika's little infection is actually important. Ask me no questions and I'll tell you no lies…

Yes, there was small self-insertion in this chapter, and I pulled a fellow author along for the ride. It should be obvious enough, really. Being the author is lots of fun… ;) And for those of you who also follow Ultra's Crisis, don't worry about the possible paradoxes resulting from Ren reading that particular fic when Eric and Velocimon (at least) are a part of it. Little things like that just make life more fun.

If you're wondering about Gamblermon, yes, he's original. Which means he actually belongs to me. Also, Ren, Eric, and Velocimon belong to me, too.

If you want a clearer idea of Gamblermon's personality, think of Balthier from Final Fantasy XII. If you haven't played it…well, he's suave, debonair, has a dry wit, and is pretty calm in any situation (if you can't tell already). I'm going to have fun writing him.

Also, the card game 'Triple Cubed' is my own idea as well. I've never heard of anything like it, so I'm assuming that it's, at least, mostly original. Did reading all the rules make your eyes cross? ;) As a side note, in the game, ten bronze equals a silver chip, and ten silver chips equal one gold. On the subject, thanks to an anonymous reviewer for pointing out an error regarding the toss of the dice during the game between Gamblermon and the company of DigiWorld Beta.

Well, this time around, we've got a classic Star Wars line and a partial scene from _The Princess Bride_. If you're interested in knowing, anyway.

Okay, before you go, don't forget to review! Otherwise, I might send my goons after you…and you all know you wouldn't like that…

Plus, it might be another two months before I update again.

_Is slapped by angry readers._

…you know, considering my overseas trip, it's probably going to be two months anyway…

_Is slapped again._

Ow.


	10. Domino Theory

Disclaimer:

Nolaquen is sitting comfortably in a leather armchair, reading a book by the deep red glow radiating from the crackling fireplace.

He is also wearing a robe and puffing on a calabash pipe. A deerstalker hat hangs across the chair's arm, while a simple magnifying glass lies propped up on the table that the lamp sits on.

A knock at the door of the study rouses Nolaquen from his reading. Sighing, the author says wearily, "Come in."

Through the door steps a petite, blond, American girl, who is wearing a black dress and similarly colored shoes. In addition, a silver cross on a necklace hangs about her slim neck.

Observing her surroundings with a cool eye—and the seated author with little more interest—the girl says, "And who are you supposed to be dressed up as? Sherlock Holmes?"

Nolaquen inclines his head in affirmation. "I thought it elementary, my dear McCoy." The play-acting author then puffs on the curved wooden pipe in his mouth.

Bubbles float upward from the open end of the pipe.

Alice McCoy shakes her head in disbelief. "What have I gotten myself into?" she openly laments to herself.

Nolaquen grins as he sets the pipe aside. "It's nothing, really. You get to live in my mansion, hang out with all the other characters in my fic, etc. All you have to do is help in some of the disclaimers."

"Why? So you don't get sued?"

Nolaquen yawns tiredly and leans back in his comfortable armchair. "Yeah. That would _really_ put a crimp in my day. And I'm already sick, so obviously, I don't want a big problem like that cropping up."

"I see," is the impassive reply.

Pausing, Alice asks, "But you already have a full cast to help you with this. Why did you call me?"

"I felt obligated," the author responds. "After all, I couldn't work you into the storyline. It just wouldn't have made any sense. So, I decided to extend you an invitation to support the disclaimers. It was the best way to allow you to partake in the great life we have here. Not to mention the barely controlled chaos," the teen adds under his breath, his mouth quirking upwards in a grin.

"Ah."

After a few moments of silence, Nolaquen snorts and lays his book over the arm of his chair. "Well? Do I have to hold up a cue card?"

Alice sighs. "Fine." Drawing herself up, and turning to face where she thinks the camera is—after all, it's invisible when it doesn't need to be seen—the blond girl says in a monotone, "Nolaquen265 doesn't own Digimon. I don't know why he's writing Digimon fan fiction, but he isn't making any money from it. So there."

Turning to the author, she asks (in a tone suggesting she couldn't care less), "How was that?"

Nolaquen rolls his eyes before picking his book back up. "Bravo. Remind me to hire you some bodyguards when you go out into public. You'll be mobbed."

Pausing, the author murmurs aloud, tapping two fingers to his chin, "On the other hand, the chances of that are actually pretty high. The neighbors probably won't cool down properly until next week, and they certainly won't have any preferences as to who they get their hands on, just as long as they're associated with me…"

Alice sighs again. "I've heard about your antics. What did you do—?"

Nolaquen shudders as he holds up a hand. "Trust me, you don't want to know. I think this cold is actually a proper punishment."

Incredulous silence.

"…okay, maybe not. Still, I can't wait until I'm back to normal health." At this, Nolaquen sets the book aside next to his bubble pipe, and grabs a soft, thick blanket from the floor next to his chair. Drawing the blanket around himself, the author yawns again before saying, "Okay, scat. I need a nap, or else I won't be able to write anything of middling quality for the next couple of days."

Alice raises a pale eyebrow before acquiescing. As the girl closes the study door behind her, she can already hear the author's snores.

Shaking her head as she walks down the hall, Alice repeats her earlier sentiment aloud.

"What have I gotten myself into?"

A/N: Yes, I was sick with a cold when I wrote this disclaimer, so it worked for the plot. If you can call it a plot.

So it was more like three months before I updated, as opposed to two. But guess what? Today's the first anniversary of **Digital Realms**! Feel free to send birthday presents.

Alright, things start to get more serious in this chapter, and my comments in the author's notes—not to mention the in-story jokes—are likely to gradually begin to reflect that. So, if any of you were thinking that **DR** was too bright and funny, you're in luck. I always planned it to be something of a darker story, action and plot wise, so…

…let's take a walk on the dark side.

As for the chapter title, it signifies the point where things begin to snowball. That will be become more obvious as we continue on.

XxXxX

**Chapter Ten: Domino Theory**

XxXxX

/DigiWorld Gamma. The Dungeons. 4:38 p.m./

"So…" Mako began curiously as he carefully scrutinized the stonework of the corridor, "why exactly are you still with us, Keramon? I'd have thought you'd be back at that restaurant by now."

Keramon considered the Tamer's question thoughtfully. "Well," the Rookie replied, "I guess it's because of my profession, really."

"How so?" Immediately after asking this, Mako pointed to one of the flagstones of the floor. "I don't like that one."

Keramon bent over and peered at the large, flat stone. The entire floor of the corridor was lined with similar stonework, but something about this particular area was a bit…off. Perhaps because the stone itself jutted slightly out of the ground, giving the impression that it wasn't completely stable. Or maybe it was the fact that it was a slightly different color than the rest of the stone floor.

Nodding, the blue Rookie mused, "Probably triggers more dart launchers if you step on it, or something like that. Yeah, let's _not_ walk here."

Cautiously, the small Digimon gave the suspicious-looking slab of rock a wide berth. Mako and Cyberdramon followed slowly, each already looking for more traps.

Once they considered themselves on safe ground, Keramon said, "Well, I deal with information. Lots of it. And some of it comes in the form of stuff like riddles, amusing anecdotes…or stories." Tapping a gangly finger to his chin, Keramon continued, "I suppose…I was getting tired of hearing about all these Digimon having adventures all over the Digital World, finding fame and glory, and just having a general good time of it. Because, after all, I was just sitting at my cart, passing those stories on to anyone interested in hearing about them."

"Then, you got tired of not doing something like that yourself, huh?" Mako queried, sticking his hands into his pockets.

Keramon considered the idea before nodding. "Yeah. I suppose hearing about all those great escapades made me want to come back with a story of my own. Something _I_ did, something grand and exciting…"

Mako nodded. "I guess I understand that. I remember reading picture books when I was little, and I always wanted to be the knight in shining armor. It just seemed so much more fun that _reading_ about it." Musing to himself, the young Tamer added, "I wanted to live the adventure."

Keramon snorted in amusement. "Careful what you wish for. You just might get it." Glancing around at the narrow corridor—doubtless filled with more booby traps—he said, "And, to be honest, I think you already have."

Mako chuckled to himself. Cyberdramon, predictably, remained silent.

Mostly.

"How much farther?" the Ultimate growled; it didn't really seem like he was impatient, but they _had_ been walking underground for more than half an hour. And almost half of _that_ had been spent carefully avoiding lethal traps hidden in the endless maze of corridors.

Keramon sighed. "I've got a photographic memory, and if the map I saw was accurate, then we should be almost on top of the cell block." After a moment, the Rookie muttered, "At least, _one_ of the cell blocks…"

"How many blocks are there?" Mako asked, not sure if he'd like the answer."Mmm…about five."

"And how far away would the rest of them be from here?"

"Let's see…the closest one would be a ten or fifteen minute walk."

Mako blinked. "That's not so bad, I guess."

"You're forgetting all these traps," Keramon reminded him.

"Oh. Yeah. This could get irritating…"

"Don't worry, we have a one in five chance of getting this right the first time." Keramon then pointed to the ceiling. "There's a very fine thread hanging from up top. I think…yes, it's attached to the floor here."

Mako frowned. "What kind of trigger is that?"

Keramon pointed again. "It's right in the middle of the corridor, and you can hardly see it. My guess is, if you run into it, you…uh…" Pondering the situation, the information broker scratched his head. "…maybe the ceiling caves in?"

"Another one of these?" Mako groaned. "The last one was bad enough." Shaking his head, the Tamer finished, "Let's just…step around it."

As they did so, Keramon remarked, "This is going to get a whole lot more fun once we find your friends."

"What do you mean?"

"Just think about it. There're three of us here, and we're skirting around these traps _very_ carefully. And we don't always have the best of luck with that." Keramon nodded his head down the corridor. "What happens when our group suddenly triples in number?"

"…it's going to get _really_ crowded in here. And if something gets set off…"

"It could very easily take out several of us, if not the whole bunch," Keramon confirmed. Mako just sighed explosively.

"We'll deal with that later," the young Tamer finally determined. "Cross the bridge when we come to it."

"Mm," Keramon responded absently.

The trio walked in silence, carefully making their way down the corridor. At last, they reached an intersection; straight in front of them was a solid wall, another low passageway began on the left (around the corner), and on the right…

"Bingo," Keramon said triumphantly. "I knew it was here somewhere."

Around the corner was a very small cavern; lit by several torches attached to the walls, it was basically a very big dead end.

Except for the row of barred doors on the far side…

Grinning, Mako stepped forward. "We'll check them all in order. They've got to be in some of these…"

"Who're you?"

Mako and Keramon froze in mid-step, each mentally wincing. They had failed to see that a small table and several chairs stood to the side of the cavern's entrance. And in those chairs sat four PawnChessmon, each rising to its feet and bringing its short spear to bear.

Mako's eye twitched anxiously. "Uh…Cyberdramon?"

"Covered," the large Ultimate growled fiercely as he stepped into the cavern. At the sight of the Dragon Cyborg, the PawnChessmon yelped and jumped into a line; each held their spears up and forward, creating a spiky wall of Rookies, but the spears shook slightly as their owners quivered.

As Cyberdramon snarled and took a step forward, Mako said quickly, "Don't delete them, Cyberdramon! I mean, they're just doing their jobs!"

The Ultimate snorted, but he nodded nonetheless. The next moment, Cyberdramon was in the air, above his four opponents, his face displaying an eerie grin. It appeared that Cyberdramon had merely leapt up, because he began to come back down…right on top of the line of little soldiers.

The two PawnChessmon on the end of the line gave little squeaks as they threw themselves to the side, leaving the two in the middle staring up in disbelief. This lack of motion allowed Cyberdramon to land directly on the two, his large feet planted directly on their chests. With a loud _CLANK_, the two fell to the ground, unconscious, with Cyberdramon standing on top of them.

Turning to face one of the remaining Rookies, Cyberdramon deftly caught the little spear which had been hurled at him—it looked ridiculously like a toy in the Ultimate's large hand—before breaking it over his knee. The PawnChessmon that had thrown the spear jumped in fright and turned to run away…

…unfortunately forgetting that there was a chair directly behind him. As such, the diminutive Rookie tripped and fell helm over heels; this motion sent the Digimon into a roll, which ended when the PawnChessmon's helmeted head crashed into the wall of the cavern. Without further ado, the Rookie slumped to the ground, out cold like its fellows.

The last PawnChessmon took one last look at the scene before he turned to flee. The little Digimon raced for the open corridor; its way was clear, except for Mako and Keramon, who both stood in front of the cavern's opening.

The PawnChessmon didn't seem to care. The small Rookie kept running, apparently intent on knocking its two obstacles aside like pins in a bowling alley.

Keramon had a different idea in mind.

"Bug Blaster!"

In the next instant, Keramon spat a small red orb of energy straight into the PawnChessmon's visor. The armored Rookie gave a cry of pain and held up both its hands to shield its hidden face, but it continued to run forwards.

Keramon and Mako both sidestepped to avoid the panicking Rookie, but Mako left his right leg extended as he moved. As a result, the PawnChessmon tripped on the young Tamer's leg, and was sent sprawling into the corridor.

Mako gestured at the fallen Rookie as he spun around to face Cyberdramon. "Grab him, Cyberdramon, before he runs and—!"

_SCHICK!_

Mako blanched. He slowly turned his head back to look into the corridor…

…and was dismayed to see that the PawnChessmon was impaled through the chest by a large spike coming out of the ground like a shiny stalagmite.

Suspended a foot above the ground by the spike, the Rookie struggled weakly for a moment before it burst into data particles. The formless data rose in the air for a moment before disappearing.

"—gets…help…" Mako finished in vain. After a moment, the boy swallowed. "…oops."

Keramon shook his head sorrowfully. "Poor guy. He must have triggered a trap when he fell." Shrugging, the Rookie began moving towards the far end of the cavern. "Let's hope your friends are here, because I'm not sure I want to deal with that again."

"…yeah…" Mako reluctantly replied, still staring at the metallic spike jutting from the ground.

A few moments later, the young Tamer jumped as a large hand landed on his shoulder. Turning, Mako looked up to see Cyberdramon's featureless facemask. Behind that mask, doubtless, Cyberdramon was staring into Mako's pained face.

Several silent moments passed. Eventually, Cyberdramon jerked his head to indicate the direction Keramon was walking.

Mako hesitated before nodding in understanding. Turning his back to the corridor, the young Tamer made his way to the cell doors, his back rigid and his arms stiff.

Keramon, meanwhile, was about to start looking into the cells when he heard an indistinct voice. Cocking his head, the Rookie frowned and listened carefully, his bulbous eyes drifting from one cell door to another.

"…hello?...any…there…?"

Keramon nodded in triumph. Turning to Mako and Cyberdramon, who were close by now, the Rookie said, "Found them!"

Following the voices, Keramon eventually stopped at a door almost in the middle of the cavern's wall. Drawing a deep breath, the Rookie removed the thick wooden bar lying across the door's face, and slowly pulled the door open.

Inside sat Ryo, Ken, Yolei, Izzy, and Cody. Each of the DigiDestined were chained to the wall by manacles on their wrists, but they appeared to be fine in every other way.

Cody was the first to react to their unexpected rescuer.

"…Keramon?"

Keramon grinned and thumped his chest. "Yep. That's me! Keramon, Dungeon Master and Prisoner Liberator extraordinaire!"

The DigiDestined sweatdropped.

"Well," Yolei commented, "I'd accept help from a Numemon right now, so I'll _definitely_ take Keramon!"

Keramon blinked. "…I'll take that as a compliment, then," he said dryly, shaking his head. Then, he stepped aside to allow Mako and Cyberdramon to enter the cell before him.

Ryo grinned at the sight of his large partner. "Well, pal, looks like you managed to pull off a rescue. Nice job."

Cyberdramon inclined his head, but also pointed a clawed finger at Mako. "Mako should take credit," the Ultimate said in his gravelly tone.

Ryo eyebrows rose up in surprise. "Really?" Turning to Mako, the 'Legendary' Tamer asked, in an impressed tone, "How'd you do it?"

Mako shrugged modestly. "It was Cyberdramon's idea, really. We went to Keramon, and after I told him some riddles, he showed us the secret passageway into the dungeons, and we wound up here with you."

Ken tilted his head. "You lost me at 'riddles.'"

"Later," Keramon said as he moved to stand beside Mako. "I'd like to get out of here before someone finds out the guards are taking a little nap." Surveying the small cell, the Rookie sighed in frustration. "Your other friends aren't here?"

Ryo shook his head as Cyberdramon tested the chain binding his Tamer to the cell wall. "They got put somewhere else, I think. The last we saw of them was during the trial."

"And what a trial…" Yolei muttered.

Cyberdramon snorted before he pulled the chain out of the wall with a strong tug. Then, he carefully wrenched the manacle off of his Tamer's wrist, dropping the twisted metal onto the stone floor.

Ryo rubbed his bruised wrist with a wince, but he nodded and smiled at his partner in thanks. Nodding back, Cyberdramon moved on to help Cody out of his restraints.

Turning back to Keramon, Ryo asked, "Do you know where our partners might be?"

Keramon nodded. "Probably one of the other cell blocks." Shaking his head, the Rookie added, in a resigned tone, "Now we'll have to deal with all those traps again…"

Cody paused in rubbing his wrist and blinked. "Traps? What traps?"

Mako and Keramon looked at each other before sighing in unison.

xxxxx

Belphemon frowned as he looked into his mirror. He couldn't hear what was taking place, but it was obvious enough that the captive DigiDestined were not far from reuniting with their partners.

Sighing, the diminutive Demon Lord set his mirror aside and turned his attention to a golden chalice sitting on a table next to his chair. Lifting the chalice, Belphemon sipped the warm milk and sighed in contentment.

Struggling against the lethargy that threatened to overcome him, the Demon Lord reluctantly set the chalice down next to his mirror, and resolved to put his mind back to work.

It was obvious that his traps were turning out to be a disappointment. Admittedly, watching the young Tamer trip a PawnChessmon and inadvertently kill it with a Floor Spike had been amusing…but the traps were hardly more than an inconvenience to the Tamer and his companions. If the same held true for the DigiDestined, once they were freed, then all that effort of having the booby traps installed would be for nothing.

Belphemon instinctively growled deep in his throat—though it sounded more like a purr than anything else; Belphemon hated that, so he stopped growling with an effort. If there was one thing he _really_hated, however, it was wasted exertion. He'd much rather take a long nap than work on something that would fail.

A seed of frustration and resentment took root in Belphemon's mind, churning the Mega's thoughts like a storm. If things continued as they did, he might have to deal with things personally.

After a moment of contemplation—or maybe a minute; it was hard for the Demon Lord to keep times straight when he was tired—Belphemon then realized that such an outcome might not be so undesirable after all.

_'I haven't had a good workout in years…I can't stand mustering the effort to get into it, but once I'm ready…'_

_'…this could be quite enjoyable, really. But, before I involve myself personally, I think I should do something about QueenChessmon. Yes, I can have some fun with that…'_

Belphemon chuckled lightly. Perhaps his work hadn't been quite so wasted after all. There was still potential here…

XxXxX

/DigiWorld Delta. 4:45 p.m./

"It's nice of those Internet cafes to leave one of their terminals outside for people to glance at the news," Joe remarked as he surveyed Ren and Eric's Digital World. "I'm not sure it would have gone over well if we'd walked inside with the Digimon." Beside the eldest DigiDestined, Gomamon snickered.

"No, that probably would have been a little awkward," Ren agreed, smiling slightly. "We were just lucky that the streets were still relatively empty. From now on, though, we can go straight from the Digital World to my apartment and back again." She winked at the group, leaving her gray eye open. "No more sneaking around in alleyways."

"That's more like it," Kari said, smiling.

Eric nodded in agreement, his hazel eyes hidden by a pair of slim, dark sunglasses. He had donned the spectacles shortly after the group had exited the subway. The overall look—the blond hair and sunglasses—reminded Henry and Jeri of Yamaki.

On the other hand, the idea of Yamaki wearing a heavy trench coat in sunny weather was almost laughable.

And sunny it was. The computer terminal had uploaded them to the top of a small hill, in the middle of a lush, green meadow. It almost looked like there was farmland in the distance, with fields of some kind of golden grain. Somewhere beyond that, on the far side of a belt of trees, the group could see smoke from chimneys rising into the air.

It was a picturesque scene. Jeri in particular took great pleasure in feeling the breeze on her face, and smelling the fresh scent of the countryside.

"Ahh…" the Tamer sighed in delight. Closing her eyes, Jeri took a moment to relax in the peaceful surroundings. Staying out of sight in a city as massive as Tokyo was incredibly difficult, and the experience had been more than a little tense.

Smiling, Ren said, "I hate to interrupt your transcendent experience, Jeri, but Dorumon says the tournament is going to be starting soon. If we start out now, we may get there in time for the preliminaries."

Nodding, Jeri fell into step next to Kari as the group made their way down the hill.

Just ahead of them, T.K. and Eric were starting a conversation.

"So," T.K. began, "what exactly do you and Ren call yourselves?"

"What do you mean?" Eric asked in response. The teen's hands were in the pockets of his trench coat, and he walked casually, seemingly perfectly at home in the Digital World.

"Well, if we're DigiDestined, and Henry and Jeri are Tamers, then what does that make you?" T.K. clarified. Flying slowly beside him, Patamon nodded in concurrence.

Eric seemed to think on it for a few moments. "We never really had a name for our group," came the pensive reply. "I suppose it came up once or twice, near the beginning, but…"

A few more steps were taken in contemplative silence.

"…I guess everyone lost interest in the idea when we started training. And then…"

"…the others lost interest altogether?" Patamon prompted.

Eric nodded. "Pretty much. And since then, it's just been me and Ren." At the sound of a loud snort, the teen revised, "And Velocimon, and Dorumon."

"Thank you," Velocimon said lightly, walking soundlessly next to his partner through the tall grass.

Eric chuckled. "You're never one to be dismissed, are you, pal?"

Velocimon smiled in amusement, revealing pointed teeth. "Of course not. It's not in my nature."

"Naturally."

Velocimon's smile widened while Eric's mouth quirked upwards in one corner. T.K. and Patamon exchanged a glance and a shrug. Apparently, the banter contained a common joke to the pair.

After a moment, Eric mused aloud, "I guess if you had to call us something, we'd be…"

"Keepers."

T.K. and Eric raised their eyebrows at Ren's interjection. "Keepers?" T.K. asked, curious.

Ren nodded, looking over her shoulder as she spoke. "We might not be saving the world, but we do our best to help others when we can, and we keep the peace of the Digital World." Then she shrugged. "Not that there's much to do in that role. It's really pretty peaceful here to begin with."

Velocimon tilted his head, his facial expression showing curiosity. "Did you come up with that on the spot? If not, why haven't suggested it before?"

Ren shrugged a shoulder. "For one thing, the topic hasn't come up in almost a year and a half. For another, I was reading Harry Potter, and the Quidditch position of 'Keeper' suddenly struck me. You know how much I like reading those books."

T.K. sweatdropped. Eric simply stared at his friend from behind his sunglasses.

Ren returned the looks with a raised eyebrow. "What? I didn't think 'Duelist' would be a good idea."

"Plus, 'Trainer' is too Pokémon-esque," Dorumon inserted with a grin. "I, for one, don't want my partner to start yelling 'Go, Dorumon! Use Metal Cannon!' I'm perfectly capable of making strategic battle decisions by myself, thank you very much."

The furry Rookie received several odd looks, which he ignored blissfully.

Eric, meanwhile, seemed to be thinking it over. "Well…I guess 'Keepers' isn't too bad. There're definitely worse options out there."

"And other stuff that doesn't fit as well," Dorumon added, in a more serious tone. "I mean, 'Digimon Overlords' has a ring to it, but it doesn't really match up our line of work."

Okay, a slightly more serious tone.

T.K. and Patamon sweatdropped. "…_Overlords_?"

Cue flashbacks of deranged 'Digimon Emperor.'

Dorumon chortled, but Ren had a thoughtful look on her face. Tapping a finger to her slim lips, she said aloud, "I kind of like the sound of that…You know, maybe things are _too_ peaceful around here. Some real Overlords might spice life up a little…"

T.K. facefaulted. "Please tell me she's kidding…" he said in a muffled tone, as his face was pressed against the ground.

Eric kept walking. "Don't worry. Her sense of humor is just a little…off." He seemed to have an apologetic look on his face, but it was hard to tell from behind his sunglasses.

Patamon shook his head. "There's one in every group…"

A few feet behind them, Kari was mulling over something that she had been curious about for quite some time.

"Jeri?"

"Mm-hm?" the Tamer replied, still smiling slightly.

"I was just wondering," Kari asked, her head tilted to the side. "Where's your partner?"

Jeri's stride faltered as the unexpected question left Kari's lips. Behind her, Henry and Terriermon winced; ahead, Ren sent a sympathetic glance over her shoulder.

"Well…" the Tamer replied slowly. "It's…um, a long story, but…"

Henry took a longer step forward, so that he was walking next to his friend, and set a gentle hand on her shoulder. Leaning over so he could see, Terriermon—in a rare moment of genuine solemness—gave her an encouraging look. Jeri smiled at the two and nodded in thanks.

Turning to face Kari, the Tamer replied, "My partner—Leomon—was…um, killed…almost three years ago."

Kari stumbled as she took her next step, while Gatomon's ears shot up. Just ahead, T.K. and Patamon froze before turning around in disbelief. Bringing up the rear, Joe and Gomamon took a few more steps before they realized what Jeri said.

Eric and Velocimon both shook their heads mournfully as the whole group came to a stop in the middle of the meadow.

"What?!" Kari finally blurted out, stunned.

Jeri shrugged weakly. "We were in a fight with…someone. He wanted power, and he wanted to _use_ it. When he was fighting us, he didn't take too kindly to Leomon's explanation of what that kind of strength was really supposed to be used for. And…well, he killed Leomon at that point…and then absorbed his data to become even stronger."

T.K., Joe, and Kari stared at Jeri, shocked. They had never expected a response like that, not even remotely.

To the two teens standing rigid in morbid astonishment, the idea of losing one of their partners was…horrible beyond belief. It had come close to that in the past, but the DigiDestined and their partners had always seemed to lead charmed lives. Nothing had ever stopped them, and nothing had ever irreparably harmed them. Ken and Kari knew the most about psychological trauma, but physically…the DigiDestined had been relatively sheltered from such close personal lost.

True, friends had died before—and Wormmon had even been deleted once—but some friends had come back from that seemingly final fate. So now, the revelation that a Tamer's partner had been killed—and hadn't been reformatted—was disturbing, to say the least.

It punched another hole in the blanket of security that often seemed to be wrapped around such groups. The fight with Daemon had been bad enough, but this…this had actually happened to someone, and the evidence was right in front of them.

Kari put a hand to her mouth, mortified. "I'm…I'm sorry, Jeri. I didn't mean to…to…"

Jeri shrugged and gave her friend a small smile. "Don't worry about it. I came to terms with it a long time ago. I'm…okay, now."

The DigiDestined sighed in relief. "I'm glad…you found the strength to do that," Kari said, and a semblance of a smile appeared on her face. Still, inside, a secret anxiety—once felt far more often, when she had fought through dangerous times in previous adventures—temporarily reasserted itself. _'Could I stand to lose Gatomon like that? __Tai?__T.K.?__Or any of my other friends?'_ Kari asked herself.

She didn't think that she could.

T.K. frowned, and made a tight fist at his side. "I hope this guy got what he deserved," he said in a harsh tone. "It's not right to take life just for the sake of gaining power. We've seen enough of that over the years."

Jeri looked away. "He…suffered enough afterwards."

Henry interjected forcefully, "Actually, he found that he had lost his way somewhere along the line, and he turned his back on the path that he'd chosen." Inclining his head to indicate Jeri, who was still at his side, he continued, "He even saved Jeri's life once, and he helped us fight against D-Reaper, which would have destroyed both our worlds if it hadn't been stopped." Jeri and Terriermon nodded firmly in agreement, their expressions showing all the proof of Henry's statement.

T.K. blinked, taken aback. "Well…did he really regret what he did?"

Jeri nodded again. "Yes, and he still does. And, I guess, that's made us friends."

"…I see," T.K. said quietly. Shaking his head, the blond added ruefully, "I shouldn't lash out like that. I mean, by judging others, and thinking I know them from just a few of their actions. Sorry."

Henry waved his hand dismissively. "Hey, we're all guilty of that at one time or another. I know what you mean, from personal experience." Jeri smiled and nodded in agreement.

"Same here!" Terriermon chimed in. "I used to think this girl in the apartment next door was really creepy because I saw her spying on everyone around her! Then, I thought that she was stalking Henry!" The Rookie then paused in confusion. "Wait a minute…"

Jeri giggled while Henry flushed. "Um, Terriermon…" Jeri managed to say, "she _was_, uh…_pursuing_ him…"

Terriermon blinked before his dark eyes lit up in amusement. "Oh, yeah! I forgot! And the time we found her in the living room…"

"She was actually there, yes," Jeri replied, trying to hold back her giggles with a hand.

"Boy, how could I forget that? She was wearing that slinky red dress, and—"

"Okay, okay, you've made your point!" Henry burst out; his face looked like it had been badly sunburned. "But honestly, the fact that you were actually _right_ that time sort of misses my point…" he added under his breath. Terriermon laughed uproariously at the indignant expression he wore, while Jeri finally gave up trying to control her giggles.

The others were staring incredulously; Ren and Eric perhaps more so…

Turning to Eric, Ren said mildly, "_That_ certainly wasn't on the show."

"Not even," the other 'Keeper' replied. His mouth was twitching slightly as he added, "I'm sorry I missed that."

…but it was hard to tell.

XxXxX

/DigiWorld Alpha. 4:50 p.m./

Takato lay on his back, listening to the pounding rain outside. The roof of the small tree house was well built; it didn't leak so much as a drop, despite the sheer quantity of water pounding down on it.

Sighing, Takato turned his head to look out the open door; beyond the platform outside, the air seemed filled with water. The Tamer imagined that it was practically a swamp on the ground. It seemed strange to imagine that such a storm could come up out of nowhere, in just a few minutes. And it had raged for more than an hour, relentless in its strength.

"What wonderful weather," Takato said to himself sardonically. "It suits the mood perfectly."

There was no one to hear him—Guilmon had been shown where some food was kept, so the red saurian was obviously absent—but Takato didn't care. It felt good to vent some of his frustration.

Even if it was just a sarcastic complaint spoken to the empty shelter.

Groaning, the Tamer dropped his head back onto his hands, which he was using as a pillow. The hut's bed was far too small for the teenage boy, so Takato had opted for a blanket on the floor. It wasn't the most comfortable way to rest, but it helped keep the Tamer from losing himself in his thoughts.

Mostly.

_'Of all the times for something like this to happen…'_ Takato lamented. _'Things are bad enough as they are. We've all been __separated,__ we're being hunted by six of the Great Demon Lords, and now this…'_

_'Gaah…life must not like the word 'simple.'"_

"Yo! Chumley!"

Takato sat up. If Kazu had decided to leave the shelter of his own hut, then he likely had something important to say.

Tapping his foot impatiently, Takato waited for Kazu to step inside, out of the downpour. And, indeed, the other Tamer appeared suddenly, as though he had parted a gray curtain hung outside the doorposts.

Kazu shook his head and flung his hands in a downward motion, sending fat droplets of water flying. Takato flinched as a cold globule hit him below the eye.

"Boy, this is some storm," Kazu commented as he shook the water off his visor. "Anyway, I...Takato, man, please tell me you're not crying."

"Huh?" Takato asked in surprise. "What in the world gives you that idea?" he added indignantly.

Kazu pointed.

Takato snorted as he wiped the raindrops from his face. "Next time you shake yourself like a wet dog, Kazu, do it outside."

"That kind of defeats the purpose, seeing as I'd be soaked again a second afterwards," Kazu retorted, crossing his arms. "Anyway, that Gatomon said that Rika's awake now. But, I know she hasn't fully recovered yet, because she wants _you_ to keep her company while Renamon helps the cat make some medicine."

Takato's sigh of relief was cut off as he blinked halfway through it. "Rika wants company? _My_ company?"

Kazu shrugged carelessly, his hands held wide apart. "Don't ask me. I think she's still loopy from whatever she caught." The Tamer twirled a finger around his temple for emphasis.

"Uh…right." Takato shook his head. _'Weird…'_

As he stood, the gogglehead asked, "Have you seen Guilmon around?"

Kazu nodded. "He's chowing down with the others. The locals have a bigger hut in one of the other trees; it's like a big cafeteria. In fact, that's where I'm headed back to. They've got a load of the best fish you ever tasted, and we're taking advantage of their hospitality."

"That doesn't surprise me," Takato commented, trying to enjoy his last few moments of dryness before he stepped out into the deluge. "But who exactly are 'they?'"

"That would be the Mikemon," Kazu answered with a grin. "I tell you, Renamon wasn't kidding when she said the locals were 'interesting.'"

"Huh?"

"Mikemon, Chumley," Kazu replied, in an 'and-you-call-yourself-a-Tamer?' tone. "Alternate form of Gatomon, you know? Anyway, you've got a village in the trees full of cats, and they're all cooped up because of the rain. So, they've broken out all their balls of yarn and flashy trinkets. It's a riot in there." Flashing a grin, the visor-sporting Tamer stepped back outside and began running across the platform.

Takato shook his head in bemusement. "It's always something," he commented to himself. Then, pulling his goggles down over his eyes, the Tamer followed his friend's course and left the hut behind.

It took almost a minute to reach the hut where Rika had been left in Gatomon's care, and in that time, Takato became completely soaked. As he stepped out of the rain, his shoes made loud squishing noises. Takato winced, realizing that he was dripping what seemed to be a bucket of water on the threshold of the hut.

From somewhere in front of him, he heard Gatomon sigh. "Don't worry about the mess, just stand in front of the fire for a while. Honestly, these summer storms are so much trouble…" The cat trailed off before saying, "Now, I'm going out to mix up some medicine. Try not to tire her too much, alright?"

"Um, yes ma'am!" Takato replied instantly, snapping to attention. His goggles were fogging, so he couldn't see Gatomon leave, but he heard her laughing softly as she stepped past him.

From the blur of yellow, it seemed that Renamon had followed her. It seemed like she had stopped and nodded at him before disappearing, but Takato couldn't be sure.

"Um…right. Fire…"

Takato had taken two steps before he tripped over a small cushion. In the next instant, the Tamer was sprawled on the floor in front of the fireplace.

"Gogglehead…you're a menace…"

"Nice to see you, too, Rika," Takato said resignedly as he lifted his goggles back on top of his head.

From a pile of cushions next to the far wall—it was only a few feet away, though—Rika rolled her eyes as she laid her head back. "Why do you wear those things, anyway?" she asked in a scratchy voice. "What good are they if they fog up like that from just a little bit of rain?"

Takato pulled himself to his feet, trying to maintain what little dignity he had. "I've got an image to maintain, for one thing. And it's not _just_ a little bit of rain, trust me."

As if to prove it, Takato's nose began twitching.

"Ah…ah…ah…"

"Oh boy…"

_"AAAACHOOOOOO!!!"_

"…"

_Sniffle._

"…told you."

Rika just shook her head.

Takato sighed as he plopped down on the cushion he'd tripped over before. "So…how are you feeling?"

"Better," Rika replied with a scowl. "But not great."

Takato lowered his head. "I'm sorry," he said in sympathy.

The redheaded Tamer snorted. "What have you got to be sorry for? You didn't make me sick, did you?"

"Ah, no...It's just a figure of speech," Takato answered with a slight frown.

"Hmph. Coming from you, I can't always be sure," Rika said with a huff. "The responsible leader, and all that. You and your image…"

Takato stared in disbelief. "You know, for about a second, I thought it might actually be possible that, being sick, you'd retract those verbal claws."

"When did you change your mind?" Rika asked with a sly smile.

"When do you think?"

Rika chuckled, though it sounded like there was a burr in her throat. "Ooh, Takato's getting sarcastic," she said, her smile turning devious. "If I can get you like that, then I _must_ be better."

Takato threw up his hands in exasperation. "I guess you don't need me here. You seem to be just fine."

He stood and turned to go, but stopped in surprise when a small cushion hit him in the back of his head. "Don't leave just yet, Gogglehead."

Takato slowly turned, half ready for more abuse. But, when he looked into Rika's pale face, he realized that the girl probably wasn't up for it.

Noting his gaze, Rika turned her own eyes to the ceiling. "I just hate being sick," she said in a quieter tone. "It makes me feel so weak…and helpless."

Takato sighed. Of course something like this would bother Rika. What else really could?

Besides Ryo, anyway.

But, naturally, the best way for Rika to deal with her frustration was to vent it all.

Taking a step closer to Rika's bed, the Tamer sat back down, his head titled; he appeared to be the epitome of the sympathetic listener.

Rika rolled her eyes when she glanced over. "Please. I don't need a psychologist. Because that's what you look like right now."

"Sorry."

"There you go again…"

"Gaah…"

For about a minute, the two sat in silence, simply listening to the logs crackling in the fireplace and the rain pounding down above their heads.

Finally, Rika let out a long breath. "…Renamon tells me you were worried."

"Of course. We all were," Takato responded immediately.

The redhead nodded. "Of course." She seemed about to chuckle, but after wincing, she cleared her throat instead. "I don't often end up in this sort of situation, do I?"

"You mean as the damsel in distress?" Takato replied without thinking.

Enter Rika's patented 'Death Glare.'

"…okay, I'll shut up now," the gogglehead said, wincing.

Rika blew a strand of hair out of her face with a puff of breath. "Well, you've got the idea, anyway. Next time, though, try and find a better way to say it." She then added, in an undertone, "Not that there'd better _be_ a next time…"

Takato's lip twitched. "So, you'd prefer a euphemism?"

Rika turned her head and stared at the brown-haired Tamer. "It sounds like I'm talking to Henry. When was the last time _you_ used the word 'euphemism?'"

Takato sweatdropped. "I guess what they say about first impressions really _is_ true."

"Once a Gogglehead, always a Gogglehead," Rika confirmed with a smug nod. Takato simply raised his eyes to the ceiling.

When another few moments passed without speaking, Takato took the opportunity to pull off his soaked windbreaker and lay it out in front of the fire. Feeling more comfortable, the Tamer turned back to his companion. "Where were we before we got off track?"

Rika groaned quietly, but she obliged him. "When was the last time I—meaning me, and only me—was in trouble?"

Takato thought on it. "Well…there was IceDevimon. Then when you jumped off the face of a cliff right above the D-Reaper, I suppose, before you Biomerged for the first time. And…the whole Locomon deal." Rubbing his chin, the Tamer said, "I can't think of anything else offhand." He smiled slightly. "I guess that says something about your strength, huh?"

Rika snorted. "Yeah. Right." Without another word, the redhead turned on her side, facing the wall.

Takato raised an eyebrow. "What's this all about? I know you too well, Rika. You don't ask these sorts of questions if something's not on your mind."

He didn't receive an answer for a little while. Chewing the inside of his cheek, Takato decided to wait it out. If nothing else, Rika might fall asleep and get some much needed rest.

Finally, he discerned her voice from the mass of cushions. "I hate being a burden like this."

_'Ah. Now I see where this is going.'_

"You're not a burden, Rika," Takato replied in a gently reproachful tone. Still, he knew it wasn't going to be that simple.

_'And she says…'_

"I can't even stand up right now, Gogglehead. I won't be any good for anything until tomorrow, maybe, and that bugs me," Rika answered in a snappy tone.

_'That's what I thought.'_

"Well, look at it this way, Rika," Takato began, choosing his words carefully. "If you hadn't suddenly dropped in the middle of the forest, we probably would have been walking out there in this storm for another half-hour. At least we got here sooner, following you and Renamon."

"Hmph. Way to make me feel better, you blockhead."

Takato sighed in exasperation. "Anyway, what's there to do? It sounds like this storm's going to last for hours anyway. We don't exactly need to be in top shape right now. I expect Guilmon's too fat and round to do much except sleep this very moment, assuming the Mikemon have enough food to satisfy him."

Rika grunted noncommittally, but her tense frame seemed to relax a fraction.

Just a fraction, though.

Seeing as Rika seemed content with more silence, Takato took the opportunity to listen to a nagging suspicion in the back of his mind.

_'There's something else going on here…'_

Playing back their conversation in his head, Takato's eye twitched steadily as he looked for anything that might give him a clue to…well, whatever is was about Rika's behavior that was nipping at the heels of his subconscious.

_''When __have__ '__I__' been in trouble'…Locomon…burden…'_

_'Oh. Ohhh…'_

Rika must have heard him mouthing his revelation, because she looked over her shoulder at him. "What?" she asked in a cross, yet curious tone.

Takato lowered his head.

"…'_promise me you'll stay for the sunset'…_"

Rika flinched at hearing him say the lyrics aloud. A part of her natural fiery attitude seemed to flinch, too. "What are you thinking, exactly?"

Her tone was low, uncomfortable; almost wary.

Takato drew a breath. "This is about…your parents, right?"

Silence.

Then a low chuckle.

"Sometimes, Takato," Rika said slowly. "I don't think I give you enough credit."

The compliment, and the proper use of his name for the first time during their conversation, threw the gogglehead completely off guard…but some part of him almost seemed to have expected it; that part of him was calm, receptive. Waiting for her to continue.

Rika lay there, staring up at the ceiling. "I guess you sometimes wonder…why I don't confide in you, or Henry, or the others…about some things. Right?"

"I wonder, yeah," Takato replied. "And I know the others do, too, sometimes." He then hastened to add, "We understand, though, that you don't need to. I guess it's just one of those things that…"

He trailed off as Rika held up a hand.

"Maybe," the redhead said quietly. "Sometimes _I_ wonder, though…if it wouldn't be better if I..."

She left her sentence unfinished, staring up at the roof of the hut.

Then, she turned on her side, and looked Takato straight in the eye. Crimson met amethyst as the two gazes connected.

"I wonder why I hold back…" Rika said softly, "…when I have so many good friends sitting right in front of me."

Takato's throat closed and he swallowed to clear it. "Maybe…" he began, looking into his companion's brightly flashing eyes, "Maybe it's old habits. They just haven't cleaned house and left yet."

Rika kept their gazes locked for another few seconds before she turned away. "Yeah. Maybe." Her tone was still soft, thoughtful.

A log shifted in the fire, but it was paid no attention.

"…Rika?"

"Mm-hm?"

"…once you're ready…you know who you can talk to."

"…thanks…Takato."

The two rested in silence, listening to the storm outside.

It sounded like it was finally quieting. If just a little.

XxXxX

/DigiWorld Gamma. The Dungeons. 4:55 p.m./

"It's about time," Yolei growled, her hands clenched into fists. Next to her, Ken winced. Somehow, despite being the object of the girl's affection, Ken was likely to be on the receiving end of Yolei's frustrations.

At least, when Davis was absent. Like now.

In this case, Yolei's aggravation was warranted. You'd be crabby, too, if you'd nearly been skewered, shot, lost to a bottomless pit, beheaded, burned alive, sawed in half, buried by half-ton rocks, etc, etc, etc…

And all in the past ten minutes, too.

Cody cleared his throat, mindful of the wrathful being that is Yolei. "Yeah…well, if our partners are here, then we can leave, right?"

Keramon nodded. "That's the idea."

Ryo looked over to Cyberdramon. "Okay, buddy. There are probably more guards in here, so you go first," the Tamer said, jerking a thumb towards the cavern's entrance.

The armored Ultimate grunted in acknowledgement, and swiftly stepped into the large grotto. Ryo, Mako, Keramon, and the DigiDestined remained in the corridor around the corner, listening intently.

It didn't take long for the sounds of frightened cries and the clash of metal to alert the group to the presence of more PawnChessmon inside. Of course, by the sound of things, Cyberdramon was disabling them without much trouble.

Ryo leaned casually against the stone wall of the corridor, his arms crossed against his chest and his eyes closed. Izzy observed this with a raised eyebrow.

"You certainly look relaxed."

Ryo cracked an eye to look at the redheaded genius. "And why not? Cyberdramon's thrashing the opposition, we're not far from freeing the rest of our friends, and then we can hightail it out of here," he stated matter-of-factly.

"It may not be as simple as that," Izzy replied cautiously.

"I know," Ryo answered, briefly turning his attention to the distant cries of _"Mommy!!!"_ echoing out of the cavern. "But I always hope for the best, even if I'm planning for the worst."

Izzy smiled and nodded. "Very practical. I suppose that's a good approach."

"I'll take that as a compliment from the master of logic," Ryo returned with a grin.

Yolei's eye twitched. "You know, while you're both trading clever little comments, our partners are still locked up—probably in chains like we were—and Ryo's partner is in there fighting all by himself. Is there something wrong with this picture?"

Izzy and Ryo looked at each other, bemused. "You mean, besides the fact that we never should have landed in this position in the first place?" Ryo asked wryly.

Yolei fumed. "YES!"

"Okay, Yolei," Izzy said in a mollifying tone, "what's the problem?"

"THIS!" Yolei shouted, holding up her fist in front of the older DigiDestined's face. "THAT GUILLOTINE CUT OFF A BUNCH OF MY HAIR!!!"

Indeed, Yolei was holding a great handful of purple hair—each tress nearly a foot long—in her clenched fist.

And the ends were tickling Izzy's nose.

"Ah…ah…ah…"

"THE MAJORITY OF MY HAIR IS NO LONGER ATTACHED TO MY HEAD! _DO YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS?!_"

"No more long sessions with the hair dryer?" Cody queried in an undertone.

_"AAAACHOOO!"_

"NO!" Yolei shrieked like a banshee, ignoring Izzy's plight of breath. Then, abruptly, the girl burst into large, comical tears. "It means I'm no longer the…the…gorgeous beauty I was…"

The heartwrenching expression on her face made the rest of the group think she was witnessing some heartless thug drowning kittens.

Ken sweatdropped while the others stared at the girl blankly.

"Yolei…" Ken then said hesitantly, "maybe you can keep it cut short. You know, as a new look. I mean, it doesn't look that…bad…" He trailed off and gulped as Yolei's gaze turned baleful, effectively evaporating her tears. The DigiDestined cowered, half afraid of being scorched.

After a second, her expression mercifully turned thoughtful. "…you really like it?" she inquired tentatively.

Ken nodded without hesitation, a sickly smile on his face.

Yolei smiled widely and pumped her fist. "Alright! As soon as we get back home, I'm getting a stylish haircut! And it'll be shorter than any haircut I've ever had before! It's going to look GREAT!"

Cody stared at Yolei's celebrations in disbelief. "Talk about bipolar…"

Mako turned to Ryo. "Ryo? She's scaring me."

The older Tamer nodded in sympathy. "I know, Mako. I know." Addressing Ken—Yolei seemed to be busy daydreaming about her new look, so they were safe for the moment—Ryo asked, "How exactly do you manage to survive with her, anyway? I mean, 'Wildcat' Rika's one thing, but Yolei…?"

Ken blinked. "With…her?" At Ryo's nod, the blue-haired DigiDestined flushed a little, but he answered, "It's not that bad, really. You just have to…carefully navigate her most…_interesting_ moods." Smiling slightly, and shaking his head in amusement, he added, "It's actually a lot of fun being around her. I…wouldn't give it up for anything."

Yolei had come out of her daydreams just in time to hear the last two sentences. _"I LOVE YOU TOO, KEN!"_ She then happily wrapped her arms around the boy's neck and hugged him tightly.

"Urk…" managed Ken, whose face was slowing turning to the color of his hair.

Chuckling, Ryo turned and said, "Hey, Izzy."

"Yeah?"

"I think she's going to kill Kenny."

Izzy considered this thoughtfully. "If she does, how do we bring him back to life in time for the next episode?"

As the two boys snickered inanely—leaving Mako and Keramon completely bewildered—a Beta in a galaxy far, far away flicked his computer screen in disgust.

Some jokes just aren't fit for high quality fiction.

At this point, Cyberdramon stepped back into the corridor. The Ultimate snorted at the scene that presented itself to him, and he turned back, striding away with heavy footsteps.

Ryo shrugged. "I guess that's our cue."

After detaching Yolei from Ken's neck, the group proceeded into the prisoner's grotto. Surprisingly, there appeared to be eleven PawnChessmon scattered all over the floor, each very definitely unconscious.

A twelfth armored Rookie was pinned to the wall, surrounded by the spears of its fellow. It almost looked like Cyberdramon had been using the little Digimon as a target, and had sharpened his spear-hurling skills, like knife-throwing at the circus. At second glance, it looked like the PawnChessmon had merely fainted instead of being knocked out.

Ryo observed this with a raised eyebrow. "…I'm not even going to ask."

Probably a wise decision.

Izzy peered around the cavern contemplatively. "It appears that more guards were assigned to our partners than to us."

"Makes sense," Ken responded, squinting in the low lighting. "After all, what kind of threat do a few humans pose? Even Rookie level Digimon are usually more dangerous."

"Speaking of Rookie level Digimon," Ryo said, "let's try and find some more, shall we?"

"They should have heard a racket outside," Keramon commented, "so they probably know that someone's here causing problems for the people in charge."

"Well, if they didn't before, they will now," Yolei said determinedly. Cupping her hands around her mouth, the girl then yelled, _"HAWKMON!!!"_

Cody uncovered his ears a moment later. "Sure, Yolei, bring the whole castle down on top of us. Great idea…"

"I didn't ask for your opinion, Cody!"

Ryo sighed. "If you want to hear a response, then _'shhh!'_"

Indeed, they heard a response.

"…do believe…Yolei…"

"…right…only Yolei…possibly…that loud…"

Yolei fumed and, after a few angry strides, banged a fist on the door separating her from the Digimon. _"I HEARD THAT!"_

While Yolei crossed her arms and huffed, Mako eased open the cell door. Sure enough, four Digimon sat restrained in chains, blinking against the sudden light of the cavern. "Took you long enough," Armadillomon commented, standing up.

"We had to take a few detours on the way," Cody replied, stepping aside as Cyberdramon brushed past. "Guillotines and trip wires, you know?"

Armadillomon blinked as Cyberdramon pulverized the chain holding the Rookie in place. "Actually…no, I don't know."

"Don't worry," Izzy said reassuringly. "You'll become intimately familiar with lethal snares, obstacles, and their assorted cousins by the time we get out of here. Think of it as a crash course in mortal ambushes."

"Graduates get to keep their heads," Ryo added with a grin.

"Oh," Tentomon said, tilting his head. "Sounds like fun."

Mako and Keramon exchanged a glance before palming their faces.

XxXxX

/DigiWorld Delta. Tourney Town. 5:00 p.m./

"So, what's the occasion?" Joe asked dryly as the group slowly made some progress through the crowded streets of the aptly named Tourney Town.

Ren spared a glance over her shoulder as he gracefully sidestepped a passing Ponchomon. "It's the annual Festival of Champions. It's usually pretty boisterous when it rolls around, but I hadn't expected the crowds to be so bad this year." To punctuate her statement, the girl had to leap to the side to avoid being trampled by a trotting Maildramon.

Gomamon's head swiveled on his neck as he peered in as many directions as he could. "Is there anything special going on _this_ year that's got so many Digimon coming around?"

Ren spread her hands in a gesture of uncertainty. "I'm not sure. Dorumon went ahead to secure his place in the tournament, so he could tell us when we get there."

"Ah." Apparently content to rest in Joe's arms, Gomamon became silent, observing the vast variety of Digimon passing in all directions.

A short ways behind them, T.K. sighed as he swiftly snatched Patamon away from a stand displaying a large variety of sweets and chocolates. "No line cutting, Patamon," the blond said, allowing his partner to settle on top of his head. "Besides, with the way these crowds are moving, I could lose sight of you in a second."

Patamon gave an irritated _'hmph!'_ "But I'm hungry! How am I supposed to enjoy a good fight on an empty stomach?"

"Just keep your mind on the homemade dinner that Ren promised to serve us later," T.K. replied, smiling slightly.

The Rookie leaned his face against the palm of his paw. "How do we know if we'll live through that dinner? For all you know, she's got Matt's cooking skills!"

T.K. winced as the idea penetrated his mind. "Just…relax," he finally said, in an attempt to pacify his small friend. With a groan, Patamon settled more comfortably on T.K.'s hat, and proceeded to quietly grumble underneath his breath.

Stepping around a cluster of Bakemon, who had inconveniently stopped in the middle of the street for some reason, T.K.'s eyes roved over the crowd, trying to keep track of the rest of their party. Spotting Eric a few feet away, the DigiDestined commented, "You're sure we're going the right way?"

Eric nodded, surveying their surroundings through his tinted spectacles. "Definitely. The trick is getting to the arena with all of us together." As the teen weaved his way between the thick legs of a towering Bulbmon, he declared, over the noise of the crowd, "If we get separated, just head straight down this road! We'll meet at the entrance!"

"Right!" T.K. replied hastily, temporarily losing sight of the other teen and Velocimon as a juggling Piedmon passed between them. To himself, T.K. muttered, "I hate crowds…"

Some ways behind, Jeri was attempting to follow the rest of the group, uttering muffled apologies to Digimon that she bumped into. "Sorry…sorry…I beg your pardon…excuse me…sorry…"

It was only a matter of time before the female Tamer misstepped in the intricate dance of the multitude. And, sure enough, Jeri suddenly felt herself pitching forward as her feet stumbled over a soft, furry body.

Jeri hit the ground an instant later, and she groaned as a Grizzlymon carefully stepped over her prone body. _'Now, if I can just get up without becoming gum on the bottom of some Digimon's big shoe…'_

As soon as the Champion had passed over her, Jeri leapt to her feet, and was nearly pushed aside as a Fangmon brushed past her. The Demon Beast turned and leered at the girl before continuing on, smoothly winding its way between the legs of other Digimon as it continued down the street.

Jeri shuddered. "This is becoming a real pain…" Then, with a start, the Tamer remembered the cause of her fall. Turning, the girl found a small Digimon with yellowish fur shaking its head as it rose to its four feet. The Digimon looked almost exactly like a lion cub, save for the tuft of reddish fur on its head and the golden collar around its neck.

"I'm really sorry about that," Jeri began tentatively, watching the cub regain its bearings. Upon hearing the human's voice, the Digimon jerked its head around and stared at the Tamer with a fiery gaze.

"If you're sorry, then just stay out of my way from now on!" the Digimon barked in irritation; its voice was slightly high-pitched, which took away some of the force behind its warning, but the look on the cub's face made it clear that it meant business.

Taken aback, Jeri blinked. "Okay…sorry…"

The Digimon—from its size, if not its attitude, it looked like a Rookie—merely snorted and turned on its heels. It vanished into the crowd a second later, leaving a bewildered Jeri staring after it.

"What was that about…?"

"You coming, Jeri?" Ren suddenly asked over the Tamer's shoulder. Jeri jumped and whirled around in surprise; she hadn't noticed the Keeper approach her.

"How did you do that?" she asked weakly after taking a deep breath.

"Do what?" Ren queried innocently. "Materialize out of thin air?"

"Um…yeah." It wasn't exactly an accurate description, but it served.

Ren smirked—a surprisingly mischievous looking expression on her fair face. "Lots of practice. I try to surprise Eric like that at odd moments, but it never works with him. Dorumon's another story, though," she added with a wider grin. Then, the girl shrugged a shoulder. "Really, it's not too difficult with this menagerie. But like I said: are you coming?"

Jeri blinked. "Ah. Well, if we can get through this crowd…"

Ren chuckled. "Just pick a big Digimon heading in our direction and follow it closely. Like that Vermilimon over there," she added, pointing out the lumbering Champion.

A few moments later, the two girls were taking long strides behind the red and black dino, now making much better progress towards the arena. The arena itself, which resembled a small version of Rome's Colosseum, was round and made of a reddish-gray stone that appeared rather porous. It seemed to be more coral-like than stone; a fact that Ren confirmed when Jeri asked. According to the Keeper, the whole area had, long ago, been underwater. At some point in the Digital World's history, though, the ocean waters had withdrawn to form a coastline some ten miles away from Tourney Town.

This left a rather impressive looking structure of coral in the middle of a great field; it seemed only natural that the town had grown up around it, especially given the area's fighting-centered lifestyle.

Jeri looked on this stadium, impressed. The street ended right in front of the naturally-grown building, with a large arch and twenty foot high corridor grandly announcing the arena's entrance. It was at this arch that the two girls stepped to the side, joining T.K., Henry, and Eric, and their partners.

Taking a quick look around, Ren said, "So we're missing…?"

"Joe and Gomamon," Henry filled in. The blue-haired Tamer paused for a moment before revising, "There they are."

Indeed, the last two members of their party quickly appeared a few moments later; Joe was breathing heavily while Gomamon had a wide grin plastered on his face. "That was awesome!" the little Rookie yelled in delight. "C'mon, Joe, let's do that again!"

Joe shook his head firmly, still getting his breath back. "No way, Gomamon. One run-in with an angry Gorillamon is enough for today…"

T.K. raised an eyebrow, but said, "It might be better if you don't tell us."

Joe nodded, a relieved look crossing his face. "Still, just so it's clear…it's all Gomamon's fault."

Before anything further could be said, Dorumon appeared from within the arena's entrance with a wide grin on his face.

"Guess what?!" the Rookie said excitedly, his eyes focused on his Keeper.

"I give up," Ren said evenly, sticking her hands in the pockets of her green trench coat.

Dorumon rolled his eyes, but he replied, nonetheless, "Today's going to be great! Paladinmon and Chasermon are both here! And they're fighting each other in the second match!"

Eric's eyebrow rose slightly while Velocimon broke into a grin. Beside them, Ren nodded, her eyes sparkling. "Well, you guys certainly picked a good day to visit," she said to the Tamers and DigiDestined.

"Are these two guys something special, then?" Joe asked.

Eric nodded. "Paladinmon's the governor of the region. He's a member of MagnaCharlemon's elite guard, and he's one of the toughest Digimon around."

Velocimon added, "And Chasermon is an acquaintance of ours. He's at about the same level as Paladinmon in strength, but he's got a fighting style that will take your breath away."

T.K. inclined his head. "Well, let's get to it, then. Where are we sitting?"

xxxxx

As it turned out, companions of tournament participants had a boxed section all to themselves, literally in the front row. It was in this box that the DigiDestined, Tamers, and Eric made themselves comfortable. Or tried to; despite the fact that the coral benches had been worn smooth by countless Digimon sitting upon them, they were still very hard, and sharp on some edges.

"So…Dorumon's fighting in the first match, huh?" T.K. asked, attempting to take his mind off his desire for a seat cushion.

"Yeah," Eric responded. After noticing the other blonde's restlessness, the Keeper said, "Don't worry. Once the fights start, you won't spare much thought for the seating conditions."

"That's good," T.K. replied. Relieved, the DigiDestined took the opportunity to look around him. As Jeri had noted earlier, the arena itself was greatly similar to Rome's Colosseum; the structure resembled a steep bowl, with a level layer of compacted dirt and fine gravel in the very center. This was obviously the area where the competitors fought, and its total surface area appeared to be that of almost two football fields. On either side of this area were two archways, each about fifteen feet tall, which—according to Eric—led to semi-underground rooms where many of the competing Digimon were waiting.

Now, Ren and Dorumon stepped out into the sun from one of these arches, and the crowd erupted into applause at the sight of the first fighter. Ren seemed oblivious to the attention, instead merely nodding to her companions in their boxed area. Dorumon, on the other hand, made a show of elaborately bowing to different sections of the colosseum.

A moment later, Dorumon's opponent appeared at the far end of the field. T.K. blinked at the Digimon, completely unfamiliar with it. He turned to Eric with a questioning gaze, which the Keeper answered by holding up his D-Platform. Above the shimmering screen of the device, a rotating, three dimensional hologram of the same Digimon materialized in the air.

"That's SkullBarukimon," Eric read aloud. "Ultimate level, Data type. Attacks are…well," he broke off with a small smile, "let's just wait and find out, shall we?"

SkullBarukimon appeared to be little more than a glowing blue skeleton; still, the way the bones melded together so smoothly made it appear that it was covered in iridescent armor. The Ultimate was a quadruped, and had a pair of wings emerging from its back. How it was supposed to fly without any sort of flesh or membrane between the wings' supporting bones, however, was beyond T.K. Finally, there was a row of imposing spikes running down SkullBarukimon's back.

The overall shape of the Digimon's body structure, as well as two long teeth jutting from the Ultimate's upper jaw bone, made the DigiDestined think of a winged saber-toothed tiger, though the three horns on its head somewhat diminished their similarity. In addition, the glowing red eyes inside the sockets of SkullBarukimon's skull leant it an unearthly air, definitely setting the Digimon in the Undead category.

Back at the other side, Dorumon took ten steps forward before stopping. Behind him, Ren calmly pushed her trench coat to the side, revealing a rectangular leather case hooked to her belt. From the small case—which was about the size of a deck of cards—the Keeper pulled out…

A Digimon playing card.

Henry chuckled. "Naturally. With the rest of the merchandise…"

Jeri smiled. "It's a little taste of home, isn't it?"

With a slight smirk, Ren turned the card horizontal, face down, and swiped the card—over her D-Platform's screen.

Henry blinked. "RFID technology…well, that's different," he murmured as Ren completed her sudden movement. The Tamer could see her lips moving, but she had spoken the words too softly to be heard from such a distance.

"Scanner, engage. Blue Card, activate," Eric supplied by way of explanation as Dorumon burst into blinding light.

From within the field of light, the group could faintly hear Dorumon's voice.

_"Dorumon, Matrix Digivolve to…"_

The Ultimate that appeared as the light faded took the form of a dragon covered in reddish fur, with jagged black stripes running across his back and legs. A wide swath of white fur also ran down the dragon's underbelly; a similarly colored mane ran down the back of his neck. At the end of a lithe neck, a head with pointed ears and a razor blade at the tip of the nose shook as the Digimon stretched his four wings. Golden points along the front edge of these wings reflected the bright sunlight, as did the rounded lance tip at the end of his tail.

_"__…DoruGreymon!"_

Gatomon whistled in appreciation. "Now _that's_ a slick form."

Kari nodded in agreement. "And he's a variety of Greymon, too! How cool is that?" she giggled, holding a hand to her mouth.

"Heh." Eric turned to the pair and said, "Just wait till you see him fight. You're in for a treat."

The two Ultimates stood at opposing sides of the arena, each staring at the other, waiting for some unknown signal.

Then, a bell rang out. The instant the clear, vibrant tones were heard, the two Digimon bounded towards each other, covering the distance between them in just a few seconds.

The fighters collided, spikes screeching on impervious bones, and they leapt back. In the next instant, they had thrown themselves at each other again; DoruGreymon had his head lowered, effectively using the blade on the tip of his nose as a polearm. SkullBarukimon, in response, was reaching out and swiping at DoruGreymon's head with a large paw.

The Digimon moved like lightning, attacking each other at one point on the field, and then another in the space of a few moments. Neither had used any special attacks yet; instead, this fight was purely physical.

DoruGreymon grunted as SkullBarukimon clipped one of his wings with a glowing blue paw. Using the momentum of the blow, the Beast Dragon rolled to the right, landing solidly on his feet some distance away. After a moment, the two Digimon began to circle each other, gauging the other's strengths and possible weaknesses.

This continued long enough for Kari to glance over at Ren. The Keeper was leaning against the wall surrounding the battlefield, her arms crossed. The girl had a serene look on her face; she made no move as her partner continued to circle his opponent.

"She looks confident," Kari said aloud. Eric nodded in response.

"Of course. We've been battling like this for years," the other Keeper explained. "It's not very sporting to use cards to upgrade our partners in a tournament, so we're used to taking a back seat. Sort of like the DigiDestined, I suppose."

"Hm."

At this instant, the two Ultimates just below sprang towards each other again; this time, however, DoruGreymon took to the air, spreading his obsidian wings wide and pushing downwards with enough force to create a blinding gust of dirt and sand, aimed right at SkullBarukimon. Added to the strength of DoruGreymon's legs—and thus, of his skywards leap—the Ultimate became airborne in a flash. The Beast Dragon flapped his powerful wings once more before diving towards his opponent, his feet outstretched, readying himself to flatten the other Ultimate.

SkullBarukimon, however, was unfazed by his sudden loss of visibility due to the cloud of dust. Instead, the Undead Digimon tensed and leapt up into the air, paws outstretched.

In the space of a second, the Digimon had struck each other yet again, and each then pushed off the other to gain some breathing room. SkullBarukimon landed gracefully, while DoruGreymon hovered about thirty feet above the ground.

T.K., who was following the action most intently—and, indeed, his previous seating discomfort was long forgotten—gave an '_ah_' of understanding. "I see. SkullBarukimon can't fly, but when he flaps the wings on his back, he adds more force to his jumps. So, he can jump higher and have a stronger physical attack in midair."

Velocimon nodded, his tail twitching rhythmically. "That's what it looks like," the Rookie said, scrutinizing the two fighters.

Eric then smiled. "Well, they're about to start using their real attacks."

"Oh?" Patamon asked, turning slightly to look at the Keeper.

The teen nodded. "They've been testing each other's physical strength. How resilient the other is, what their ranges of motion are, how quickly they can move. Now that they have some basic information on the other, they'll start fighting for real."

"For real, huh?" Joe inquired in a faintly disbelieving tone. "How much stronger are those attacks going to be?"

_"Deadly Fear!"_

"We're about to find out," Eric said evenly.

SkullBarukimon red eye's flashed an even brighter crimson, and his glowing body suddenly became engulfed in a dancing, cobalt aura. The aura expanded rapidly…reached a size almost twice that of SkullBarukimon's body…and leapt through the air, straight at DoruGreymon.

The Beast Dragon, displaying an impressive set of reflexes, turned into an immediate barrel roll, neatly slipping to the side of the other Digimon's attack. With a quick glance over his shoulder to make sure the attack was dissipating behind him—it actually exploded forcefully in a burst of bluish haze—DoruGreymon reared his head back and roared, _"Metal Meteor!"_

As DoruGreymon swung his head back down to face SkullBarukimon, a huge metallic sphere suddenly appeared in front of the Beast Dragon's face; as DoruGreymon reached the end of his movement's arc, the sphere was launched towards the ground at a blistering speed. However, nearly mimicking the other Ultimate's previous maneuver, SkullBarukimon swiftly leapt to the side, landing safely just as the sphere impacted on the ground.

With an explosion of dust and compressed sound waves, the metallic sphere bit out a fifteen-foot wide crater in the battlefield, prompting some of the watching crowd to applaud slightly. SkullBarukimon surveyed the damage for a moment before turning his attention back to the hovering DoruGreymon.

T.K. whistled. "Nice attack."

"But it didn't connect," Joe stated. Eric and Velocimon nodded in response to the older boy's observation. "so it doesn't matter all that much."

"Right," Eric stated. "Even if it _had_ hit SkullBarukimon, though, DoruGreymon is still at a slight disadvantage."

"Oh?" Kari asked, leaning over to look at the other teen.

Eric nodded. "SkullBarukimon is a Data type. DoruGreymon is a Data type as well—but he's _also_ a Vaccine. A sort of…hybrid, so to speak. But anyway, what does that tell you?"

Henry frowned. "Vaccines have a type advantage over Viruses, and usually hold the upper hand in a fight where the fighters' strengths are equal. Viruses have a similar edge on Data types, and…those with a Data alignment trump Vaccines."

"Rock, paper, scissors," Velocimon confirmed. Eric added, "It's not the biggest factor in a fight, though some might think it is, but it definitely plays a part in how a battle plays out." Nodding to DoruGreymon, who was now diving towards the ground for another bout of physical attacks, Eric continued, "If DoruGreymon lands a successful attack, he'll have to make sure that the power behind that attack is strong enough to overcome the resistance that SkullBarukimon naturally has for Vaccine attacks. The Data aspect of any of DoruGreymon's special moves is negligible, because SkullBarukimon himself is a Data type."

"You can pound two rocks together all you want," Jeri said, her mind harking back to some of Rika's lessons in the card game, "but it's much easier to use one of those rocks on something that will actually break with one or two good strikes."

"Exactly."

Back on the battlefield, DoruGreymon was opting for a different strategy. _'This guy's fast enough to avoid my attacks from a distance,'_ the Ultimate thought to himself, _'so…__I wonder what would happen if I hit him at point blank range?'_

With a sly grin—nearly indistinguishable from a snarl in the heat of battle, and with the Beast Dragon's large set of sharp teeth—DoruGreymon batted away an offending paw before calling out _"Metal Meteor!"_

This time, SkullBarukimon had no time to move before the mass of silvery metal hit him full in the chest. With a pained roar, the Undead Digimon was carried across the field, straight into the wall surrounding the fighting area. A cloud of pulverized rock was thrown into the air from the impact, obscuring the Ultimate from view.

Gomamon pumped a flipper into the air. "Nice!" Turning to Velocimon, the Rookie asked, "Did that do it?"

The raptor shook his head. "Doubtful. That guy looks pretty sturdy. It might take another attack or two like that to put him down."

"Oh…"

Blinking at the cloud of debris and the fallen blocks of the wall, T.K. asked, "Hey, if this colosseum is made of coral, how can you fight in here? I mean, if this is a typical fight, then there's a lot of damage done here in the space of a few minutes, isn't there? And I doubt you can replace coral like this that easily…"

Eric chuckled. "You're right. However, this arena is lined with blocks of stone from a nearby quarry. The bench you're sitting on is the closest coral to the fight; it helps protect the colosseum, while the spectators are still allowed some exciting destruction." Sweeping his hand to encompass the whole arena, he added, "After every fight, workers come to clear out the debris and replace some of the damaged masonry. By the time the next match starts, that crater will be filled in and compacted like the rest of it was before."

Henry blinked. "Wow. That's a lot of trouble to go to just to have a single match."

"Maybe, but it's a convenient location for everyone to come to, and it keeps the area around the town pristine. No burning forests or pulverized rock scattered here and there, where there are supposed to be farms and whatnot."

"If a particularly large Digimon is fighting, then the fights are sometimes moved to a section of the quarry instead," Velocimon added. "It's hard to fit real giants inside here, as you might imagine."

"I see," Henry said slowly. The Tamer was impressed; it was certainly a different Digital World than he was used to.

SkullBarukimon chose this moment to reappear, stalking forward leisurely. The Ultimate appeared a little worse for the wear, but he still held himself erect, and his eyes glowed with a passion.

In the air, DoruGreymon nodded and prepared himself for another flurry of attacks.

_"Deadly Fear!"_

The dark blue aura burst from the ground, heading towards the flying Digimon above with a speed that outstripped SkullBarukimon's previous attack. Gritting his teeth, DoruGreymon tensed…

_"Bloody Tower!"_

…and hurtled headlong into the attack. However, the Beast Dragon himself was now surrounded by a roiling red nimbus of crimson energy.

Nearby, Ren raised an eyebrow by a fraction of an inch. "Risky," she murmured to herself before her lip twitched in amusement. "Typical."

With his nose blade thrust forward, DoruGreymon plunged at a downward angle, building momentum, and power, by the millisecond. When the two attacks—and DoruGreymon—collided, a massive shockwave of crackling energy flashed through the air, mercifully stopping about a dozen feet from the stands.

But, to the surprise of many of the spectators, although SkullBarukimon's attack was negated, DoruGreymon continued on; his own aura was blazing like an inferno, and, with a piercing cry, the diving Ultimate smashed into SkullBarukimon with a terrific explosion.

When the smoke cleared, the crowd raised an enthusiastic cheer as DoruGreymon was revealed, slowly rising to his feet. In front of him, SkullBarukimon lay prostrate, twitching. The Undead Ultimate gave an audible groan before his form suddenly pixilated. In the next moment, a smaller, less menacing form of SkullBarukimon slowly picked itself up off the ground. After giving a respectful nod to DoruGreymon—who returned the gesture—the smaller Digimon slowly made its way off the field, through the arch it had originally come through.

The DigiDestined and Tamers quickly joined in the applause, and DoruGreymon let loose an echoing roar in response. At the other end of the battlefield, Ren uncrossed her arms and smiled at her partner, obviously pleased at her partner's victory, before gesturing to him.

Nodding, the Ultimate quickly made his way over to her. When he stood before his partner, DoruGreymon knelt down, allowing his Keeper to climb onto his back. Turning on his heels, the Ultimate took a flying leap towards the box in the front row where their companions were sitting.

At last, Ren leapt lightly from her partner's back into the box, and sat down next to Kari and Gatomon with a smile on her face. Behind her, DoruGreymon swiftly de-Digivolved into Dorumon; the triumphant Rookie then took his place next to his partner as the applause finally petered out.

Eric leant forward and smirked slightly. "Show off."

Dorumon snorted. "What are you talking about?" he teased before yawning; the little Digimon was swaying slightly on his feet, as well.

"You made an effort to finish that fight quickly, and with a bang," the blond Keeper accused light-heartedly. "So, you put a lot of power into that last attack. It was a bit of a gamble, really."

Dorumon waved a paw dismissively. "I knew what I was doing. I just wanted to give my fans a good show."

Velocimon rolled his eyes. "Now he has _fans_…"

Ren chuckled as she scratched her partner behind his pointed ears. Next to her, Kari giggled. "Well, I thought the fight was great," she said with a wide smile. "I'm just glad that SkullBarukimon didn't seem to be hurt too badly," the girl added with a sympathetic face.

"He was a strong opponent," Dorumon replied with a nod. "It'd take a lot more than that to bother him too much for very long."

After a moment, Henry chuckled. "That was definitely incredible," the Tamer stated, looking out at the field. "I'm not really used to watching this kind of fighting as a sport."

"I know what you mean," T.K. replied thoughtfully. "For years, every fight we've been in has had something important at stake. Like lives, more often than not. To see two Digimon going at it with no intention or fear of destroying the other is…a welcome change."

Eric laughed softly. "Well, don't worry. There's a lot more where that came from."

xxxxx

Leviamon settled down at the bottom of the ocean floor and snarled; the Great Demon Lord was, to put it simply, baffled. And he didn't like that one bit.

The great crocodile had arrived in this Digital World a short while ago, and had scouted the area without much trouble. At the moment, he was in the ocean, just a few hundred feet away from the coast. In the distance, further inland, he could just barely sense the DigiDestined among the inhabitants of what was doubtless a substantially sized settlement. These other Digimon didn't worry Leviamon, though there were certainly several powerful beings in their midst.

What _mystified_ the Demon Lord was what he sensed approaching the DigiDestined from the north. It had to be Digimon, and more than one. But the power he could feel…

Even underwater, the force of Leviamon's frustrated tail slap against the muck of the ocean bed was enough to raise a small wave—it was only ten feet tall—and send it roaring towards the beach. Several Kiwimon on this beach shrieked before sprinting away at high speed, barely managing to avoid the wall of water as it crashed down behind them. Leviamon ignored the frightened Digimon as they fled; he had bigger fish to fry, for one thing, and little time to play. And for another, he was still unsure about what was about to happen.

It was fortunate that the Demon Lord possessed the ability to so precisely gauge other beings at range. As far as he knew, none of his fellow Great Demon Lords had such a talent, which meant that it was a useful tool to hide from them. Of course, anything that Leviamon had that others didn't was good. At the moment, however, Leviamon cursed this particular gift; his spine tingled from the sheer amount of power he felt rolling towards him from the north.

It was a very irritating sensation.

Still…somehow, this promised to have interesting results, the Demon Lord decided as his great bulk slowly settled into the silt of the ocean bed. Beyond the power, he could discern a single-minded drive; an overwhelming, intensely focused hunger that very nearly guaranteed chaos. Deliciously exquisite chaos.

And if this force of nature—for that is what it felt most like—were to encounter the DigiDestined…

Leviamon clicked his great teeth together thoughtfully. If the DigiDestined were destroyed, then Leviamon's job was done. If they were not…then they would doubtless be weakened.

The perfect time to destroy them.

Chuckling deep in his throat, Leviamon shook the silt from his body and slowly made his way to the surface. He would find a body of water where he could observe the mayhem…

…and then he would join the party.

xxxxx

Glancing out at the field, Eric commented, "And there are the Golemon. Right on time."

Indeed, a large group of Golemon were entering the stadium from both of the arches on the field. Each Champion-level Digimon was carrying either a large boulder or a stack of perfectly cut stones; the boulders were quickly dropped into the large crater that DoruGreymon's first attack had created, and were efficiently pounded into gravel by the Golemon's large fists. This gravel was then trod on repeatedly as more boulders were added to the hole. Eventually, the crater was no longer a crater, and the ground became level with the rest of the field. In the meantime, other Golemon were rapidly rebuilding the broken wall, where SkullBarukimon had first fallen, with the cut stones. In less than five minutes, the battlefield appeared as it had before the fight, and the Golemon slowly lumbered back off the field.

Terriermon chuckled. "Someone's got those rock-heads trained pretty well."

"That's rude, Terriermon."

"Sorry, Henry," the terrier replied with a grin. Not surprisingly, his tone didn't sound very sincere.

After a few moments, Ren smiled. "Well, I hope you're ready, because the next match is beginning."

The DigiDestined and Tamers settled back down on the coral bench, already keyed up. Dorumon yawned once more, but then appeared alert and animated, ready for some more action.

And action soon entered the ring in the form of two new combatants.

The first stood at about ten feet tall, though the Digimon appeared incredibly robust and muscular for such a height. This was barely noticeable beneath the immense amount of plate armor that covered the being's body, but it was likely that great physical strength was needed to wear such armor.

The entire suit of armor was a flaming crimson with deep gold trim surrounding the edges of each individual piece; in addition, mysterious, golden runes that glowed faintly were etched into the armor all over the Digimon's body. The central protection of the torso and limbs was complemented by segmented gauntlets, a pair of lofty pauldrons covering his shoulders, and an elaborately worked helmet that left only two bright blue eyes visible to the world through a thin slit in the front.

At the Digimon's side, a huge war hammer—with a thick, rectangular head nearly twice the size of Terriermon's entire body—was held loosely in a single hand: a further testament to the Digimon's great strength. To Henry, he looked like a tank on two legs.

Ren pointed at the being, saying, "That's Paladinmon. Ultimate level, Vaccine type. Don't let his size fool you; he's faster than he looks, even with all that armor. His attacks are, as you might guess, primarily used with that big hammer of his." Shifting her finger to the other end of the battlefield, she added, "And that's Chasermon."

Chasermon was a couple of feet shorter than Paladinmon, but his body was comparatively leaner and more flexible. At least, that was what the tight-fitting armor Chasermon wore suggested.

The outer section of this armor was, like Paladinmon's, made entirely of plates, but Chasermon's suit seemed to take the idea of 'full body coverage' to an entirely different level. There was barely a single square inch of the Digimon's upper body that wasn't covered by the reflective gray metal. Each section of the suit was segmented in a manner that, presumably, allowed its wearer a full range of motion, with each piece smoothly sliding over another as Chasermon effortlessly strode towards the center of the field. The chest and stomach were a perfect example of this flawless design; the suit seemed almost to flow as Chasermon moved inside it.

The plates of the armor shone brightly in the sunlight, like silver-tinted mirrors. It was hard to tell if it was because of an extraordinary polishing job, or if the gleaming quality of the armor was just natural.

Below these plates, Chasermon seemed to be wearing a dark bodysuit; it was difficult to tell what it was made of—partly because of the sheer brilliance of the armor on top of it—but it might have been leather, or a smooth, flexible fabric.

The crowning piece of this suit of armor was the helmet; it was made of the same shining metal as the plates below it, and it seemed to fit over Chasermon's head tightly. The helmet seemed to have been cast in the shape of its wearer's head, with a sloping brow and a distinguishable jaw likening its resemblance to an armored skull. At the sides of the helm, where the ears of a human would be, two blade-like spikes arched up into the air, leaving one with, at first glance, the impression that Chasermon had some sort of tall rabbit ears.

Strangely, there was no visor on the helm; nor were there eye holes. How Chasermon could see out of the helmet, as it covered the Digimon's entire head, Henry wasn't sure.

To complete the image of a gallant warrior in shining armor, a cape—silver on the outside, while dark on the inside—fluttered in the air behind its wearer. The garment seemed to be made of the same material as Chasermon's body suit.

All in all, Chasermon was a sight to behold. The Digimon strode forward leisurely, yet he held himself with an untouchable air; perhaps because no one could see him underneath his armor, or because he gave no outward sign of what he was thinking. Regardless, this only served to reinforce the awe inspired by Chasermon's appearance.

Henry whistled under his breath. "He's…something else."

"He is, isn't he?" Ren replied, nodding slowly. "He's an enigma, that one. No one really knows him well, and you can never tell what he's thinking."

Joe shook his head. "Wow." After a moment, he asked, "Is he an Ultimate? That seems to be a trend so far."

"Yes, but he's strong enough to battle Megas and walk away with barely a scratch on that armor of his," Velocimon confirmed. "There aren't a lot of Digimon like him. MagnaAngemon and Grademon are two of the few at the same level who can match him in power."

"MagnaAngemon, huh?" Patamon queried with a grin.

"Don't let it go to your head, pal," T.K. said with a raised eyebrow.

Velocimon chuckled. "Still, Paladinmon should give him a good fight. There's a reason he's in charge of the region." Turning to Dorumon, the raptor said slyly, "Ten bucks says the paladin makes a crater bigger than yours."

"You're on," Dorumon replied instantly.

Over their heads, Ren and Eric exchanged helpless glances.

Meanwhile, the two armored Digimon slowly approached each other, stopping in the center of the battlefield. Then, they both stood motionless, apparently awaiting the bell to signal the beginning of the match.

_Ding!_

In that instant, two Ultimates dashed toward each other; Paladinmon's great war hammer was held high in preparation for an immediate attack. Chasermon, in comparison, threw back his hand and, in a flash of white light, was suddenly holding the hilt of a peculiarly shaped blade.

The two came at each other in a furious flash of motion, nearly invisible to the naked eye. Both reared back their weapons, ready to strike—

_"HEEEELLLL__PPPP!!!__"_

—and the two Digimon froze in mid-motion, mere inches away from each other. The two weapons held aloft were then slowly lowered as their wielders turned to face the disruption.

The disruption in question was a small Gazimon, stumbling down a flight of steps in the stands. The small Rookie was gasping for breath, but he continued to stumble forward, apparently intent on reaching the arena. Around him, Digimon shared confused comments and expressions.

A missed step sent the Gazimon tumbling head over heels, and he eventually landed in a heap in the box where the DigiDestined, Tamers, and Keepers were now standing attentively.

Eyes narrowing, Paladinmon began to stride towards the box; Chasermon followed behind the larger Ultimate a moment later.

Kari helped the Gazimon to his feet and set him on a bench, where he continued to gasp for breath. "Take it easy…just breathe in…and out…"

The Rookie's chest heaved as he tried to follow the DigiDestined's advice. Foamy spit slowly accumulated around the Gazimon's mouth as he panted; still, the Digimon appeared to be improving with every moment spent resting.

At last, Paladinmon stopped next to the short wall separating the box from the arena. In a deep, majestic voice, the Ultimate asked, "Now, what's the matter, little one?"

Beside him, Chasermon came to a stop; the tip of his blade was pressed into the dirt, while his hands rested on the top of the hilt. The smaller Ultimate remained silent, merely looking at the group impassively. Or, at least, it seemed as though he was looking at them; it was difficult to tell with that helmet.

The Gazimon was still breathing hard, but he managed to gasp out, "By the…northern woods…ran all the…way…" The Rookie broke off as he took a few deep breaths, his hands clenching the bench.

"…_Slivermon!_" he finally managed before breaking out into a wheezing cough.

A flurry of mutters and anxious conversations broke out all over the colosseum.

_"Slivermon, huh?"_

_"This close to the town?__ That's strange…"_

_"They already raided the outer farms this season. Why are they __back__ so early…?"_

_"Oh, boy!__ It's __thumpin__' time…"_

_"Moron…this isn't something to be excited about…"_

Paladinmon cast a quick look around the stands before turning back to the Gazimon. "How many of them are there?" the Ultimate asked gently, slinging his war hammer over his armored shoulder. Around them, the crowd quieted as they listened for the response.

The Gazimon shuddered and mouthed wordlessly for several moments. In that time, his breaths again became rapid and shallow. Seeing this, Joe said sternly, "Concentrate on your breathing. Take your time, and take deep breaths." The Rookie nodded, nearly in tears.

A few feet away, Henry's brow was furrowed. Turning to Eric, the Tamer asked, "What are Slivermon?"

Eric was looking at the shaking Rookie intently, but he replied clearly, "They're a kind of Digimon that live in the wilderness, typically pretty far from here. However, groups of them sometimes move into the area to steal food, or just to cause trouble. They're tricky to fight; for one thing, they're small, and fast as whips."

Velocimon snorted. "They also have a few unfair advantages over the rest of us…" the raptor muttered under his breath.

"Repelling these raids is one of the most important things we do here in the Digital World," Ren interjected. "It's not exactly extinguishing forest fires, but stopping a single raid has much the same effect. While one attack can cause a lot of damage, they just keep coming if they think they've found a weakness…"

Henry was about to inquire further, but he was interrupted by the Gazimon.

Holding up a shaking hand, as though to emphasize his point, the Rookie slowly said, "At…at least…twelve…maybe more…" The Rookie's teeth chattered as he buried his face in his paws.

All sound in the colosseum died instantly; those who had been whispering earlier now stood as statues, their breath stolen from them by the revelation. In the deafening silence, the air seemed suddenly to become chilled, like a crisp November morning before sunrise.

Paladinmon, as still as the rest, audibly drew a long breath. With a calm voice, the Digimon asked deliberately, "_How_ many are there?"

The question came slowly, as though Paladinmon was making absolutely sure that he would receive the right answer.

"…at least…a dozen…" came the tortured reply.

Paladinmon's eyes closed as he tapped a single finger against the shaft of his hammer repeatedly. It was obvious he was thinking hard. Next to him, Chasermon tilted his head slightly, but gave no other sign that the news affected him. It was impossible to tell if it truly had or not.

Feeling a sense of rising dismay, the DigiDestined and Tamers slowly turned to look at their local friends. Surely _they_ knew the significance of the information that the Gazimon had relayed so fearfully…

And it seemed that they did. Dorumon and Velocimon were nearly frozen, aside from the muscle twitching spastically underneath Velocimon's eye. In the meantime, Ren and Eric's gazes were locked together; the looks on both of their faces were as serious as death.

Clearing her throat in a subdued tone, Kari ventured, "Um, guys…?"

Eric's gaze—still hidden by his sunglasses, but no less powerful for that—suddenly snapped to the DigiDestined girl. "Slivermon," he began in a low tone, "seemed to have been inspired by the saying 'There's strength in numbers.'"

"And this means…?" Terriermon prompted, his own tone now truly serious.

Ren took up the reins of the explanation, saying, "Slivermon are Champion-level Digimon. A lone Slivermon is incredibly weak; an experienced Rookie can destroy one easily. But…" she added, "_two_ Slivermon will humiliate that same Rookie in the minute it has before it's destroyed."

Dorumon continued, "Against four Slivermon, a Champion is better off running for help than fighting. He'll lose." This statement was made with a chilling certainty, as though no other option existed.

"Six," Velocimon said, "will eviscerate your typical Champion with little more effort. At this point, you need Ultimates to stop them. Seven is usually the maximum number of Slivermon that you see together at any given time. At least, while they're raiding. No one knows how many congregate in their own territory."

The Gazimon, still seated on the bench, moaned in abject terror at the thought. Further back in the stands, those who were morbidly listening to the conversation below them shivered and shifted fearfully.

T.K.'s stomach seemed to be trying to sink into his feet. "And more than six…?"

Velocimon snorted. "The largest pack of Slivermon we've ever seen had nine. One of them jumped on a Mega, and a second later, the Digital World had one less MegaSeadramon swimming its waters," he said blackly.

Kari paled. "_One…?_"

"That's the Slivermon's strength, and my whole point," Eric said in a grim tone. "A being by itself in a fight is weak; it's a target surrounded by enemies. Basic strategy says that higher numbers means the group is stronger. But Slivermon take that principle a step further. As members of a group are added, not only does the group become stronger in terms of resources and bodies to use…but the _individual Slivermon becomes exponentially more powerful with each new arrival to its pack_."

Stunned silence greeted this announcement as the implications slowly sank in.

"…so," Henry began weakly, "what you're saying is, even if eleven Slivermon stood on the sidelines and watched…"

"The remaining Slivermon in the ring would tear apart any resistance it faced _completely_ by itself," Eric finished with a morbid nod.

"Which is _exactly_ why," came the suddenly booming voice of Paladinmon, "everyone here will remain in the town and attempt to fortify it!" Turning to face as much of the silent colosseum as he could, the Ultimate continued, his voice bouncing off the walls of the structure, "Even if we outnumber the Slivermon a hundred to one, we will never be able to launch an organized counterattack! The difference in power and experience from one Digimon to the next is too great to overcome in such a venture. So, I will take a few of the strongest in our midst, and attempt to hold them off! Perhaps, on seeing a truly organized defense, they will turn back to the wastelands!"

The crowd stared at Paladinmon with mouths agape. A Bakemon near the back wailed loudly and vanished; apparently, it wasn't going to stick around for the party.

A long, tense moment passed. Finally, a quavering voice said, from somewhere within the multitude, "Are you sure that will save us?" A number of voices were raised in agreement, but they died down quickly.

Addressing the voice, Paladinmon answered truthfully, "I do not know for sure. However, it may be our only option." His blue eyes hardening, Paladinmon then said determinedly, "But we have not worked our entire existences building our lives in this town to lay them before these marauders as peace offerings, nor as gifts to those who would steal them from us! We have sown and reaped these fields for ourselves for ages, free from all oppression, save for this ever-present threat of suffering and fear!

"Rest assured," he continued grimly, "I will protect this community with the very best of my abilities! And I will _fall_ before I allow these parasites to enter…our…_homes!_"

At this last word, Paladinmon punched his hand into the air; held in that hand was his massive war hammer. Once held aloft, the hammer suddenly burst into blinding, golden light that saturated the colosseum in a blaze, as though the sun had come to rest directly overhead.

Slowly, basking in the light of their beloved leader, the crowd slowly raised a hesitant cheer. It began like an avalanche; with a few pebbles of applause here, and a few shouts of agreement there. Then, the air steadily became filled with enthusiastically roaring voices, each proclaiming its support of their leader and his perilous gambit.

"Inspiring, isn't he?" Eric shouted dryly over the hundreds of voices, though he nodded in approval. A small smile twisted on his face, and the teen removed his sunglasses as the golden light faded. As Paladinmon turned, and the voices faded, the Keeper said firmly to the Ultimate, while tucking his dark spectacles away, "Count us in." Ren, Velocimon, and Dorumon nodded in agreement, their faces rigid with determination.

Paladinmon chuckled. "Of course. I would never be able to keep the four of you out of this, would I?" Noting the negative headshakes, Paladinmon turned to the DigiDestined and Tamers speculatively.

Henry gulped, but after a moment, he said hesitantly, "Well…I certainly can't let you guys go out there without some help."

Terriermon leapt to his partner's shoulder and nodded firmly. "And I wouldn't miss this for the world!" Despite the light-heartened tone of the comment, it was obvious that Terriermon was as grave in intention as he would ever be.

Jaw clenched, T.K. crossed his arms, as though steeling himself. "If this fight is going to happen, then I have to be a part of it, too."

"Me too!" Kari added, though her voice shook. Eric's bleak explanation of the nature of the Slivermon scared her like she hadn't been scared since, well…Daemon. But, Kari Kamiya would never be caught deserting her friends in battle. Especially in such a battle as this promised to be.

Joe sighed, but he said, "That goes for the rest of us, I think."

Paladinmon nodded in appreciation. "Can you do this?" he asked, his eyes clearly stating that nothing less than absolute certainty would allow them to follow him into this fight.

"We'll vouch for them," Ren stated before the others could answer. "If they haven't lost their touch, they'll be a bigger help than anyone else we could possibly find."

After a moment, Paladinmon nodded again. Turning his head slightly, he said to Chasermon, who had stood mutely throughout the whole conversation, "We were a moment from becoming opponents in the ring. On the reverse side, would you care to be an ally in true battle?"

A single bark of soft laughter sounded from within the faceless helmet. Settling his blade on top of his right shoulder, Chasermon said shortly, from a hidden mouth, "Just don't get in my way."

The words were spoken lightly, but they spoke volumes about the power Chasermon wielded. That was plain to everyone present.

With a final nod, Paladinmon said, "I believe we should go now. Any more volunteers will only hinder us in a fight like this. We need to be a scalpel, cutting at the heart of the Slivermon: not a mace attempting to bludgeon them to death. Such a path would only doom us."

Turning swiftly on his heel, the great Ultimate strode away rapidly, heading for one of the arches in the arena's wall. Chasermon, blade still resting on his shoulder, followed at the same pace.

The group, beginning with Ren and Dorumon, leapt down into the arena lightly and sprinted to catch up. As they did so, Henry turned his head and began, "Jeri…"

"I'm coming," Jeri interrupted resolutely, her chin held high. "You can't stop me. Even if I can't help, I'm not leaving."

Henry opened his mouth to protest, but, a moment later, closed it. "You can be just as stubborn as Rika sometimes," the Tamer said tiredly, though he wore a small smile of understanding.

Jeri tried to grin. "I'll take that as a compliment."

At the front of the group, Ren half turned and said, "Obviously, our Digital World isn't as peaceful as it first seemed." She said this conversationally, but her tone was tight and her eyes glittered strangely with that familiar, internal light.

The glitter seemed almost…manic.

Joe gave a noncommittal grunt as he mentally tried to untie his intestines from the knot they'd gotten themselves into. Next to him, Kari said, with a pallid face, "Eric, please tell me you where exaggerating when you said that twelve Slivermon can't be stopped."

"I didn't say that, exactly. But, if it makes you feel better, yes, I was exaggerating." The blond Keeper was looking straight ahead; his hazel eyes, finally uncovered, were burning with a frozen fire that sent icicles down Kari's spine.

"…somehow, no, I don't feel any better…" the girl said weakly. Beside her, Gatomon's hair stood on end, and her teeth were just barely visible through the raised lips a small snarl.

"That's too bad," Eric answered, almost apologetically. "Because Slivermon still have a few other tricks up their sickles…and they're almost as bad, when they're all working together…"

Jeri held a hand to her mouth as her stomach lurched suggestively. _'I didn't wake up this morning thinking I was going to be thrown into a mess like this…'_

As though he knew what Jeri was thinking, Dorumon said encouragingly, "Don't worry, Jeri. It's always darkest just before the dawn."

Momentarily surprised by the biting tone of her thoughts, Jeri thought sardonically to herself, _'I know another version of that saying.'_

_'It's always darkest just before it goes pitch black.'_

XxXxX

A/N: I had an unbelievable time writing this chapter. My longest yet, and hardly anything actually _happened_. Sometimes my ability to create such long pieces of writing out of nothing scares me. Still, that means that you guys get more and more to read, so I guess it's worth it.

I realized, while writing this chapter, that it's likely that not all of the groups will land places in all the chapters (see Takato and Co. in the last chapter, for example). Simply because of the timing for each event in each world, it's possible to go without seeing one of the crews for a chapter or two at a time. Like now, for instance: everyone in DigiWorld Beta is busy walking in the desert…and doing nothing else of importance, so I'll instead devote time to showing what's happening to the others.

Fans of a certain video game series will have recognized one of my new OCs. You know who you are, and you know who I'm talking about.

As usual, kudos to Plasmasphere for being the Beta. He even got a few seconds of screen time today. Did you catch it?

Alright, now it's time to read and review. Please do so, as it helps reassure me that this is time well spent. Considering it's been almost three months since the last update, I hope you realize how much time I've spent on this. Still, it's been a blast the whole time. And it'll remain this way if I have anything to say about it.

Which, come to think of it, I believe I do. Heh. Lucky for all of you.


	11. Kingdom Come

Disclaimer:

"You can't make that."

"Yes, I can."

"No, you can't."

"Yes, I can!"

"Prove it."

"Alright! Watch this!"

Insert the sound of shuffling feet here.

…_TWACK!_

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

Insert the sound of a distant car alarm here.

"…go ahead. Say it."

"Myotismon…that has got to be the worst shot in the history of golf."

Davis shades his eyes with a hand as he squints into the distance. "I don't know, man. That car's got to be close to four hundred yards away."

Nolaquen shakes his head. "That's sort of negated by the fact that the car is about seventy-nine degrees to the right of the hole. Meaning, Myotismon just drove his ball into the mall's parking lot. Which is across the pond. And the highway."

Myotismon groans and slams his nine-iron into his golf bag. Nolaquen sighs in sympathy and says kindly, "You want to just record that as a double bogey?"

"…fine."

As the vampire lord dejectedly looks on as Nolaquen prepares for his next stroke, Davis, standing next to Veemon (his caddie for the day), says, "Hey, here comes Eric!"

Nolaquen glances up as his OC approaches the group before turning his attention back to his golf ball. "So, how're things going over at the ninth hole?" he asks Eric as the other teen stops next to Myotismon.

"Well," Eric replies casually, "Yolei keeps screaming that Impmon's cheating, and a couple of Demon Lords are raising some havoc down at the eighth. Plus, Dragomon won't give up any of the balls that fall into the water hazards."

"Typical." With that, Nolaquen brings up his club and drives his golf ball into the sky with perfect form. About five seconds later, the ball lands on the putting green and rolls to within about three feet of the thirteenth hole.

Veemon scratches his head before turning to Davis. "Hey, Davish?"

"Yeah, buddy?"

"How come _your_ shots aren't that good?"

Davis sighs. "One: he's the author. He's automatically perfect in everything. Sort of like a Gary Stu." At this, Nolaquen chuckles.

"It's a perk to escaping reality, where I am very much _not_ perfect. Call it escapist and pointless, call it cheating, but it's enjoyable nonetheless." The author gives the matter some further thought. "Plus, it sort of makes up for having to say 'I don't own Digimon' every time I write this stuff."

Continuing, Davis says, "And two…uh, well…"

"He spends his golf lessons staring at Kari," Myotismon says sourly from the side. It's hard for vampires to find willing girlfriends, so he's sort of unsympathetic in these sorts of situations.

Eric, momentarily confused, finally nods in understanding, ignoring Davis' stammered denials. "It's the shorts she wears when she goes golfing, right?"

Davis eventually sighs in defeat. "You can't blame me, can you?"

Eric appears ready to answer 'no', but, receiving a pointed look from Ren—Nolaquen's mostly silent caddie—he replies instead, "Well…"

"…"

"…if you want to boost your chances, you might start by at least _trying_ to get T.K.'s name right once in a while, and not just when the script demands it," Nolaquen observes helpfully as he hands his club to Ren, who dutifully slides the blunt weapon into the golf bag next to her. "That's bound to raise your respect level; everything you've got comes from gogglehead charm, stubbornness, and leadership abilities. Those are great and all, don't get me wrong, but sometimes you need a little bit of…polish."

"Says the psychotic author who drops people into boiling cauldrons of dark chocolate," Eric observes fairly.

"Hey, I haven't done that in months," Nolaquen replies in his defense, waving a hand in dismissal. "Besides," he adds with a fleeting scowl, "you would have done the same thing if you'd found out that Devimon was planting 'Bloodsicles' in the freezer and disguising them as cherry-flavored popsicles."

Ignoring the raised eyebrows he receives, the author then says, more cheerfully, "Your shot, Davis."

Davis, sighing, begins to line up his shot.

Veemon, meanwhile, has a funny look on his face. "Um…what exactly do…'Bloodsicles' taste like?"

"Blood," Myotismon replies simply as a look of ecstasy appears on his pallid face.

"What did you think?" Eric adds dryly.

"…funny…they didn't taste so bad at the time…"

Davis, at the moment of this comment, is in the middle of his swing. However, thanks to his partner's mindlessly innocent disclosure, he reflexively cringes in mid-stroke…and, as a result, his golf ball doesn't exactly go where it is intended to go.

_TWACK!!!_

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

Breaking her silence, Ren comments mildly, "Nice shot, Davis. I didn't think it was possible to hit a golf ball into Tai's hair from this distance. On the other hand, it _is_ a pretty big target…"

"…thanks a lot, Ren…" comes the sulky reply.

Nolaquen considers the dilemma carefully. "Well, Davis, do you want to take the shot from Tai's head? He looks unconscious right now, so I don't think he'd mind…"

A/N: Don't worry, there's no real Davis-bashing here. It just fit with the disclaimer. Any character bashing I actually do will most likely involve real mallets…

XxXxX

**Chapter Eleven: ****Kingdom Come**

XxXxX

/DigiWorld Delta. 6:03 p.m./

Jeri had a queasy feeling deep in her stomach, and it wasn't abating as the group hastily made their way through golden fields of ripe wheat. In fact, the sensation was growing more potent with every few steps: doubtlessly due to the increasing anxiety the girl was swimming in.

Jeri Katou was intimately familiar with all sorts of mental and emotional pain. Grief, fear, silent sorrow…once upon a time, these feelings—and many others like them—had been close companions, however unwanted and loathed. It hadn't been so bad over the last few years, though; after all, she had her closest friends to count on. Who could ask for better support than that?

But now, the tinges of nausea—induced by nervous anxiety—gripped and clawed at Jeri's insides, bringing back old, uncomfortable memories. Memories of loss and despair…memories of pain-filled days spent trapped in her own mind, and then in an impervious prison of unfeeling pink and red matter…

Intellectually, she knew these feelings now had less basis than her past worries. The appraisal of their situation was bleak, but, after all, it was hardly hopeless. After all, what were they about to face? A great mutated program convinced that the best way to save mankind from its suffering was to destroy everything in existence? A group of demonic Digimon bent on conquering all of existence and subjugating all those beneath them? No, they were going to confront a small group of Digimon who, although they certainly seemed to possess some 'unfair advantages,' were just another piece of normal life in this Digital World.

True, things were turning out differently than Eric said they typically did, but what reason was that to fear the near future? None. None at all…

Next to her, Henry glanced at Jeri's face, trying to make sense of the jumble of emotions visible there. After a few silent moments of observation, Henry took a breath and began tentatively, "You know, Jeri, there's nothing to worry about. This is just another little thing that's popped up in our path, and we'll handle it just like we have everything else before it." She had to give him credit; he sounded like he was convinced of that, himself.

_'See? No problem,'_ Jeri added to herself, just half-believing it. Shaking her head as she tried to clear her clouded mind, the girl said, with a small, sad smile, "Thanks, Henry. I think it's just all starting to get to me."

Henry nodded, his face radiating gentle understanding. "It's tough, isn't it?"

"Yeah."

"…don't worry. Things are going to be fine."

Jeri's eyes turned distant, as though she were seeing something far-off on the horizon. _'Even if __the future _does_ turn out alright__…for how much longer will __it__ stay that way?'_

A deep voice interrupted her musings. "Your friend is right, young Jeri."

Paladinmon strode forward calmly, and his voice was equally placid, despite the circumstances.

"One of the greatest weapons any being can hold," the crimson-armored Ultimate continued, "is hope. That is what gives us the strength to triumph over all our obstacles…and it is the power that will aid us in our battle with the Slivermon."

A few feet behind them, T.K. grinned. "I know better than anyone how important hope is," the blond commented. From the top of his head, Patamon nodded several times in agreement.

Ren half-smiled. "That _is_ your crest, isn't it?" she asked, more stating the fact than questioning it. "Hope."

"Yeah, it is," T.K. responded. "And I get the feeling we're going to need its power. Not just for this, but for everything else we have to do to get back home and put those Demon Lords in their place…"

Kari nodded. "And we've got Light and Reliability to back up Hope," she said firmly. "And we have all of our new friends, too. I guess you could say that we're never alone in this."

The statement, said with such conviction, did wonders for Jeri's confidence. The tremors of uneasiness subsided, leaving the Tamer feeling much lighter than before. She laughed softly before saying, "I was just scaring myself, wasn't I?"

Paladinmon inclined his head. "Perhaps. It is not difficult to do when faced with an opponent such as the Slivermon. They are creatures that seem to breed on fear." The Ultimate's blue eyes hardened slightly. "But still, a little fear is not a bad thing. It keeps you alert, and ready for nearly anything. And it is certainly called for, in the case of Slivermon," he added grimly.

Jeri shuddered, but the action felt more reflexive than anything. Perhaps she _was_ feeling better.

Perhaps.

xxxxx

A short distance away, two bright blue eyes followed the group closely. Their owner was hidden by the waving stalks of grain around him, which suited him just fine.

At the moment, he was undecided as to what he should do: on the one hand, he could turn back and find shelter in the town, like so many others were doing. On the other…he could follow, and see Slivermon up close for himself.

Sharp teeth chewed at the inside of a cheek while the being labored over his decision. Finally, the former course of action was rejected with disgust. What possible meaning to his life could he possibly gain by running and hiding? No, better to experience something different, something _important_, than continue to lead a dry, empty existence.

Even if it meant the end of life… this was something that needed to be done. If it wasn't, then what good was the life he might forfeit?

Taking a deep breath, the Digimon began to creep forward through the field, following the group in front of him at a safe distance.

XxXxX

/DigiWorld Gamma. The Dungeons. 6:04 p.m./

"Face it, guys. We're lost."

"No, we're not," Keramon replied to Cody's dry statement. "We know _exactly_ where we _aren't_."

"And that is…?" Cody prompted.

Keramon sighed. "…outside."

"My point _exactly_."

Ryo put a hand to his face. "Please explain to me how we managed to lose ourselves in here again?"

"Oh, that's simple," Yolei responded irritably. She began ticking off her fingers. "First, the wall of fire. That sort of put a damper on our plan of walking out the same way you guys came in. Second, the walls that slowly squeezed together. And in case you didn't notice, we didn't have a pair of droids to conveniently stop them before we were crushed. Third, the Indiana Jones-style rolling boulder."

"I'd like to point out," Izzy interjected, "that the boulder from 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' did not turn corners at ninety-degrees. Whoever set up _this_ trap had a far greater grasp of the concept of—"

"And _finally_," Yolei continued loudly, "the walls started rotating and sliding out of place when Mako sat on that bench, which was _clearly_ not a good idea even at the time. Does _that_ clear it up for you?!"

"I said I was sorry," Mako grumbled, his hands thrust into his pockets. Yolei sighed as her temper drained away.

"And now _I'm _sorry," she said wearily, putting a hand to her forehead. "I shouldn't have snapped; I apologize." The girl bit her lip while she cast her eyes to the floor dejectedly.

Mako waved a hand after he had liberated it from his pocket. "Don't worry. I think we're all frustrated. It's no big deal."

"Thanks, Mako. I appreciate that," Yolei replied meekly, her eyes still downcast.

Ken suddenly grinned. "Cheer up, Yolei," he said as he half-turned to face the girl. Jerking a thumb over his shoulder, he added, "I don't think we'll have to deal with all of this much longer."

Yolei blinked as she looked down the corridor. "…is that…light?"

"If you mean 'honest to goodness daylight from the sun,'" Ryo answered with a wide grin, "then I'd say 'yes.'"

"Hurray!" the Digimon cried together.

"There's a light at the end of the tunnel!" Tentomon added happily.

The rest of the group sweatdropped.

"…I don't think we needed to hear that," Cody muttered.

Regardless of the possible connotations of the previous comment, there was indeed a bright, natural light shining at the far end of the corridor, which stretched on—completely straight—for nearly a hundred feet.

Yolei sighed blissfully. "Freedom!" She lifted her foot, intending to plant it down firmly about a foot away from her, but Hawkmon seized her hand.

"Yolei, I believe that would be a bad idea," the Rookie said seriously.

"Huh?" Yolei asked, her foot still held in mid-air.

Hawkmon held up a finger. "Might I point out that we have barely avoided one snare after the next for the past hour? And each trap was barely six meters from another. Why should this long stretch be any different?"

"…you counted the distance between the traps?" Yolei queried incredulously. Then, she carefully set her foot down where it had been before. "You have a point, though…"

"Especially considering the fact that this might be an exit," Keramon added. "If _I_ had designed this dungeon, then I would have the greatest security somewhere like this."

Armadillomon sighed. "Does that mean we're going to have to run a gauntlet here?"

Izzy nodded thoughtfully. "Perhaps. The possibility certainly shouldn't be discounted."

"Great." Scratching the back of his neck, Ryo surveyed the lengthy passage carefully. Then, he said slowly, "Hey… I've got an idea."

"What's that?" Wormmon asked curiously.

Ryo's face suddenly gained a sheepish expression. "If this works, then…" Clearing his throat, the Tamer turned to Cody and Armadillomon. "You guys up for an Armor Digivolution?"

The pair blinked before realization dawned on them. At Armadillomon's nod, Cody pulled his new D-3 from his pocket. "Well, we haven't done this for a while. Hope you're still in shape, Armadillomon."

The Rookie nodded firmly. "You betcha!" he declared with his distinctive Texas twang.

As the Digivice's screen gained a white glow, Cody cried out, "Digi-Armor Energize!"

Armadillomon began to shine with a bright light, and his shape rapidly expanded and changed in proportion, all the while saying, "_Armadillomon, Armor Digivolve to…Digmon__, the Drill of Knowledge__!"_

A moment later, Digmon, the Armor level Insectoid, was drilling away at the rocky walls of the corridor; this put the Digimon's path at a perfect right angle with the open passage. The other DigiDestined, Digimon, and Mako were at a loss as to what the three had in mind.

Noticing this, Cody explained, "If we're unsure about the safety of this path," he said, pointing down the corridor towards the distant light, "then we'll just go around, and avoid the whole problem."

"Oh," Tentomon said. "Yes, that _would_ be convenient." A few moments later, the Rookie tilted his head in confusion. "Wait a minute. If Digmon can get through these walls and make a whole new tunnel for us to walk through…"

"Then _WHY_," Yolei picked up, her face growing red, "_did we not think of this before?!_"

Ryo flushed in embarrassment: certainly a rare action for the Legendary Tamer. "…uh…"

The cause of his previous sheepish expression was now obvious.

"We've been a little preoccupied for most of the afternoon, Yolei," Ken said, in an attempt to placate the irate girl. "The fact that the idea didn't occur to us before now is…well, excusable under the circumstances…"

Yolei huffed. "Well, as long as we get out of here, I guess I can deal with our idiotic lapse of intelligence…"

Mako winced. "That's a wonderful way to put it."

Keramon, meanwhile, was watching Digmon's progress through the solid rock with a bemused expression. "I've never seen a Digivolution helped along by another being before," the Rookie mused aloud, a finger absently tapping his chin in a steady rhythm. "Neither have I seen an artifact like what you were holding," he added, nodding to Cody.

"It's a long story, trust me," Mako said before Keramon could ask any questions.

Contrary to his inquisitive nature, Keramon decided to accept this explanation with little more than a resigned nod. "I get the feeling that I've gotten involved with something way over my head," he commented, sighing. His eyes brightened as he said, "Still, what an adventure this is turning out to be." The Rookie grinned as Cody stepped into Digmon's new tunnel and gestured the others to follow him.

Izzy nodded. "Most definitely," the redhead stated as he slid into line behind Ryo.

xxxxx

Belphemon snorted as he watched the humans and their Digimon circumvent the final leg of the trapped dungeon. Setting aside the mirror, the diminutive Demon Lord turned to his hostess.

"It seems those dissidents truly have escaped from your clutches, my Queen," Belphemon suggested in an 'oh bother' tone.

QueenChessmon, seated once more in the massive throne room, scowled behind her facemask. "Not for long." Standing, her pink cape fully swept out behind her, the Mega began striding down the center of the throne room. The Queen Stick was held in a white-knuckled grip at her side.

Belphemon had no doubt of where she was going, or what she intended to do. This was why he chuckled darkly.

Strangely enough, his urge to yawn had completely disappeared.

xxxxx

"Freedom!" Yolei cried out as she leapt through the hole that Digmon had successfully drilled…

…through a wall. And a wall covered in elaborate tapestries and dark paneled wood, at that.

Yolei blinked. "We're still inside?" she questioned aloud before frowning.

"Hmm…" Izzy also stepped out, and then glanced to the left. "I see. The light we saw was shining through this mirror," he said, pointing to a large mirror that covered about thirty square feet of the wall they had just exited. On the opposite side of the hallway, a window high up on the wall allowed a bright beam of sunlight to shine through it and directly onto the mirror.

"I suppose it's a two-way mirror," Ken commented as he too stepped to the side to examine the glass. "It probably conceals a hidden entrance to the dungeons."

"That sounds about right," Keramon said, peering at his reflection. At last, the Rookie said, tearing his gaze away from the hidden door, "We should probably leave now. I don't know much about the interior of the castle; for all we know, there could be a patrol on its way here right now."

Ryo chuckled. "After that first taste of their hospitality, I'm not really inclined to stick around for more."

The rest of the group quickly seconded the motion, and they stealthily set off through the fortress, seeking a real escape to the fresh air of the outdoors.

XxXxX

/DigiWorld Delta. 6:08 p.m./

Paladinmon held up a gauntlet-covered hand, bringing the crew to a halt. Less than a quarter mile away—perhaps half that—was the leading edge of the woods where the Slivermon were apparently preparing their incursion.

"Ready yourselves," the Ultimate said in a low tone. "They could be anywhere in this area. I suggest we proceed cautiously."

Several gulps greeted this pronouncement, but each being in the group held himself with a straight back and a high chin. Nothing but determination was readily evident on their faces, though a closer inspection would reveal varying degrees of uneasiness and worry.

A few steps later, T.K. whispered, "So, what else can you tell us about Slivermon?"

Eric answered, in an undertone, "Not much. We're more experienced with fighting them than studying them. You don't have much time in a battle to gain more than passing impressions; they just move too fast to leave room for idle thought. What we're relatively sure of, judging from the coordination of their attacks—among other things—is that they possess a hive mind of some sort."

"A hive mind?" Kari queried.

Velocimon nodded his head in a ducking motion. "It makes an odd sort of sense, considering their primary advantage. The addition of numbers makes them more powerful; perhaps part of that could be attributed to increased mental capacity as more Slivermon come within a certain range."

Henry pondered this mystery bemusedly. The Slivermon certainly seemed a unique variety of Digimon; he'd never seen, nor heard, such attributes manifested in a Digital Monster before. For a moment, the Tamer wondered just _how_ this 'exponential growth factor' worked. But, before Henry's mind could really start to chew on the abstract problem—which he probably couldn't solve without first hand observation—the teen asked, "What other kinds of abilities do the Slivermon have?"

Eric clucked his tongue as he stared off into the line of trees that they were slowing approaching. "The other big advantage they've got is related to their power boost. To start with, Slivermon come in different colors, though they're all still essentially Slivermon. Each colored variation has a specific attribute that it alone possesses. However, once you start putting all sorts of Slivermon together, those attributes are spread around so that all the others possess them as well."

"For example," Velocimon began, "A green Slivermon—Slivermon G, as it's called—has an added venom effect to its attacks. In other words, there's a chance that their attacks will 'poison' you, so to speak, and you will steadily lose strength as the battle progresses. As far as we know, the venom seems to fade once there are no Slivermon G in the area."

"If you put a green Slivermon and a gray Slivermon together," Dorumon continued, "the gray Slivermon—which is really a grunt, it doesn't have any abilities beyond the power stuff—will gain the venom, too."

T.K. shook his head wearily. "Exactly how many varieties _are_ there?"

"From what we've seen," Ren responded, "about five: gray, green, red, black, and silver. Reds aren't too bad. Okay, actually, they are. They're masters of camouflage; they could be standing right in front of you, phased out of sight, and you wouldn't even know they were there. Blacks are worse, though. They—"

Ren cut off abruptly, and stopped in her tracks just as quickly. Slowly, an infinitesimal smile appeared on her face. "There they are."

The rest of the group halted and peered forward cautiously. At first, nothing was visible beyond the rustling leaves of the nearby woods. As silent moments past, a slight breath of wind touched the group's faces, cooling the sweat that had broken out on more than one brow.

Then, a single shape slowly materialized from the shade cast by the overarching boughs. This shape was slender and long: almost serpentine. Yet, it stood nearly upright—reaching about five feet high, which was perhaps half its body length—supported only by its lithe form; in this position, it looked reminiscent of a viper rearing itself to face an enemy. One small difference between the Slivermon and your typical snake was the fact that it had two long tails; they each split away from the other about two-thirds of the way down the Digimon's body. Another, much larger difference, was the pair of sickle-like limbs extending from either side of what might be the Slivermon's chest—if it had one. These two sickles were held like a praying mantis's forearms: slightly extended from the body, and obviously ready for lethally quick movement. The final distinguishing feature was the sloped, elongated head that seemed to measure about two and a half feet long from tip to tip.

The skin of the Slivermon looked leathery, and it was a dark, uniform gray. This color scheme seemed to place the Digimon as a lesser 'grunt,' as Dorumon had succinctly labeled it.

Joe slowly let out his breath. "Should our partners…um…Digivolve yet?" he asked in a hushed tone. But neither of the Keepers nor their Digimon answered; instead, their gazes were locked on the Slivermon.

Velocimon's nose twitched, and he took a slight breath through his nostrils in response. "Yeah," he finally replied. "that might be a…good idea." Holding his head up high, the Rookie muttered, "Gazimon wasn't exaggerating. That's for sure…"

That seemed to snap Ren and Eric back to the group. "Take it to the highest level you can," Eric said grimly. "Everyone who isn't involved in the fight, _get back_." He gestured, with the jerk of a chin, to a small rise in the field, about two hundred feet behind them.

Ren, meanwhile, was reaching into the pockets of her verdant overcoat. Pulling her hands back out, she revealed a pair of fingerless gloves; they were a darker color than the green of her coat and had black leather along the back of her hands, but they seemed made to match her outfit. As the Keeper pulled on the gloves with slow, deliberate motions, her minty and steely gaze never left the distant Slivermon, which stood motionless just beyond the edge of the trees.

"Heh."

Dorumon gave his partner a sidelong glance at her apparent amusement. "You're looking forward to this…aren't you?"

Ren's half-smile had reappeared. Now, though, it seemed cold and empty, yet her eyes danced with a shade of excitement that set those who saw it on edge. "Whatever gave you _that_ idea?" she asked innocently.

It was a tone that didn't match her facial expression.

As the Keeper said this, she reached upward and, after taking hold of the goggles tangling about her neck, snapped the eyewear into place on top of her head. Now looking every inch a 'goggle-girl,' Ren commented mildly, "Ready when you are."

Henry sighed as he pulled out his D-Arc. "Here we go again…_Biomerge activate!_"

In a flash of blinding light, MegaGargomon's massive tank-like body now stood in front of the other humans; he was immediately flanked by Paladinmon and Chasermon, who each stood at the ready.

Joe, T.K., and Kari quickly mimicked Henry's previous action and pulled out their D-3s, though they still found time for a quick, impressed glance at the large Mega in front of them.

Grinning, T.K. then said, "Well, we can't let Henry think that Biomerging is the only way we're going to win this, can we?"

"Nope," Kari and Joe responded firmly. In the next second, Patamon, Gatomon, and Gomamon had been replaced with the hovering, angelic forms of MagnaAngemon and Angewomon, with Zudomon on the ground between them.

Zudomon swung his hammer around experimentally. "Well," he said in a deep voice, "I don't know about you, but I'm ready to kick some Slivermon from here to kingdom come." He punctuated this statement by taking a firm step forward.

Angewomon snorted in a very unladylike manner. "'Kingdom come?' Sorry, Zudomon, but that's _our_ job," she said dryly, nodding at her fellow angel. MagnaAngemon smirked, but the expression quickly faded into steely determination.

Paladinmon, however, held up a hand, again motioning for a stop. "Wait until we know where they all are," he said sternly, before hefting his great war hammer—Mjolnir—to chest height.

On the other side of MegaGargomon, Chasermon finally lowered his sword—Solaris—from its resting place on his shoulder. "Besides," the enigmatic Ultimate finally commented, in an even voice, "your friends aren't ready."

Velocimon snorted. He then exchanged a nod with Eric, who said in a clear tone, "Activate Legacy Protocols."

Velocimon and Eric suddenly vanished as another source of incandescent light came into being. However, in this case, the pair was suddenly veiled and surrounded by a rotating crystal; this translucent prism, with ruby red faces, radiated golden light from each of its edges and from within. Henry noted, after several moments, that the swiveling shape was a hexagonal bipyramid: that is to say, two six-sided pyramids with their bases connected to each other.

And you thought that geometry course would never come in handy…

As the prism began to rotate on its axis at a faster rate, Eric and Velocimon's bodies began to shine with the same golden light that their floating container was emitting along its edges. From within, Velocimon could be faintly heard crying out, "_Velocimon, __Digiscend__ to…Aethermon!"_

An instant later, the ruby prism shattered into data shards, and a single being was revealed, surrounded by a haze of golden light. MegaGargomon, with Terriermon's voice, commented, "Doesn't it figure that they'd have a form of Biomerging?"

Henry chuckled from within his emerald data sphere. "Hey, if it works, I'm happy to share the concept. Especially right now."

The newly-born Aethermon echoed Henry's chuckle. "That's good, because we're kind of attached to this form. We'd hate to feel obligated to give it up on charges of plagiarism."

Aethermon seemed to be a slim, bipedal dragon with body proportions similar to that of humans; he stood about ten feet tall, though he was also hovering about two feet above the ground despite his lack of wings. Dark red downy feathers, like Velocimon's in his Rookie form, covered all of his visible body. What wasn't visible was hidden by a bright crimson armor and leather straps; mostly, this armor included a chest plate, arm and leg guards, and gauntlets. Aethermon's whole head was also covered by a lofty golden helm, which had an eye slit in the shape of a 'V' with nearly horizontal arms. Behind this eye slit gleamed two hazel eyes, a perfect mix of both Eric and Velocimon's similarly colored irises.

Nearby, Ren gained a surprisingly feral grin; it was a complete one-eighty from her previously serene expressions. Repeating Eric's words, she purred, still grinning, "Activate Legacy Protocols."

In another moment, both she and Dorumon were just barely visible inside a similarly shaped crystal rotating in midair. This prism, however, had sparkling silver faces, and a sapphire radiance both glinted at the edges of the floating crystal and shone from the pair's bodies inside. Then Dorumon's voice became audible.

_"Dorumon, __Digiscend__ to…Dorugoramon__!"_

The Digimon that burst from the data prism was a large, heavily armored Digimon; this armor seemed to be made of more sleek curves and razor blades than anything else. A pair of blue wings with spiked rods as supports sprouted from Dorugoramon's shoulders; two curving, metallic spikes topped each wing, right above Dorugoramon's head. To complete the transformation, a long tail—as thin as a whip—tipped with a large blade, shaped like an arrowhead with circular notches near the center, lashed the air behind him with a hungry energy. The overall impression left Kari thinking that, while this form was certainly elegant in some ways, it was rather…'wild' for Ren to actually be a part of it.

_'On the other hand…'_ Kari thought to herself, remembering the chilling grin that Ren had displayed a few moments before merging with her partner.

Mild she might usually be, but it seemed that Ren had something of a bloodthirsty streak in her.

Kari's train of thought was broken by indistinct movement just within the trees. The lone Slivermon was motionless, but the air around it seemed to blur and churn. And then, three more Slivermon slowly faded into view out of thin air. These three—one red and two green—slithered next to the first, and then became motionless, as well.

Inside MegaGargomon, Henry observed the newcomers with narrowed eyes. They had slithered forward in order to move, true, but they had never lowered their heads or upper bodies—that is, no part of their bodies originally in contact with the ground ever left it during the movement, and no other parts seemed to move. This made their motions seem disturbingly smooth and graceful; it was as though they glided over the ground, never taking their gaze from the beings that stood in their way.

At least, Henry didn't _think_ that they took their gaze away. No eyes were actually visible in the Slivermon's faces; they had featureless heads, each shaped like the smooth, armored carapace of some slender insect.

_'I don't know what's worse. Looking into the eyes of a being that __obviously __hates you and everything else around it, like Daemon,'_ Henry mused, _'or looking at something without eyes __at all__. I can't __even __tell if they're staring__ straight at me or ignoring me, much less what they're thinking.__'_

_'…it's kind of creepy.'_

Terriermon's half of the Mega snorted. _"Don't give the enemy a psychological advantage, Henry. Isn't that something _you'd_ say?"_

Henry blinked, and then nodded as he realized the truth of the words sank in. _"Yeah.__Right."_ Unconsciously clenching his fists, the Tamer mentally locked onto the four Slivermon, effectively targeting them with MegaGargomon's arsenal of weapons. _"What say we blow them to bits if they so much as twitch in our direction?"_

_"I'm not about to argue, after listening to Ren and Eric __talk __about them,"_ Terriermon responded dryly.

_"Speaking of Ren and Eric, I say we let them make the first move, if they're so inclined,"_ Henry said. _"They know these guys best, after all."_

As if Eric had read Henry's thoughts, he said aloud, "There are more Slivermon, waiting just inside the woods. But they're waiting for us to move, I think. So…" he added casually, putting a foot forward and settling into a combat stance.

"…let's do this."

Aethermon, Dorugoramon, Paladinmon, and Chasermon leapt forward in the next instant; they were quickly followed by MegaGargomon and the three Ultimates. Almost a hundred yards away, the four Slivermon held themselves motionless for another few seconds before they, too, surged forward, almost as one being. Now, their serpentine forms streaked over the grass, almost horizontal to the ground.

Kari gulped, then grabbed Jeri's arm. "Okay…I think withdrawing is a really good idea right now."

Jeri managed an absent nod before she was pulled back by the other girl. T.K. and Joe followed them, walking backwards in order to keep an eye on the battle that was about to erupt.

And erupt it did. In a second, Paladinmon's war hammer slammed into the ground with tremendous force, sending a visible shockwave through the air. However, the Slivermon that the Ultimate had been aiming for slipped to the side with a fluidity and speed that quicksilver would envy.

The Slivermon—with skin colored a faded green—reared back one of its sickle-like limbs and whispered, in a sibilant hiss, _"Jagged Scythe."_

The deadly appendage, sharpened to a razor's edge at the tip and on the inner side, slashed across Paladinmon's right pauldron with a flash of purple light. Paladinmon bellowed as he launched his left hand into a vicious punch that just barely clipped the top of the Slivermon's head, causing it to withdraw for an instant. This gave the paladin a chance to examine his shoulder.

The Champion's attack had rent a great furrow in the piece of armor, and the edges of the cut were smoking. However, Paladinmon smiled mirthlessly beneath his helmet. Turning to the Slivermon, which stood swaying slightly about ten feet away, the Ultimate commented, "An admirable attempt. But you didn't touch me beneath my armor," he added with a note of challenge in his deep voice.

The Slivermon twitched once, then leapt forward with a ferocity that was quickly mirrored by Paladinmon.

Nearby, MegaGargomon was attempting to swat a red Slivermon (Slivermon R) with a great hand. So far, the only thing he had managed to do was create several craters in the ground big enough to bury the slinky beast.

Assuming the Mega could actually connect with the Champion, anyway.

"Gaah…" the Android-type growled as his next attack was dodged with equal alacrity. "Hold…_STILL!_" With a yell, he again clenched his hands into fists and reared one of them to the level of his shoulders. With a movement reminiscent of a piston, the Mega's fist shot to the ground with enough force to crush a tank like a tin can. _"Power Pummel!"_

But, the attack was wasted; out of the cloud of dirt that was raised by the force of the punch, the Slivermon R rushed MegaGargomon with blistering speed, twisting around the Mega's outstretched arm like a true snake moving at light speed. Yet, the Champion never seemed to touch MegaGargomon's body at any point. In any case, the Slivermon R shot towards the Android's face; MegaGargomon's eyes widened in the instant before Henry's reflexes, honed by martial arts classes, saved both him and his partner from what was potentially a nasty fate.

MegaGargomon's head twitched to the side, and the Slivermon R flew right by.

But not without leaving a reminder of its passing.

Henry and Terriermon both cried out in pain as one of the Slivermon R's blade-like arms sliced a deep cut into MegaGargomon's face clean across the cheek, in a slight upturned arc.

As the Mega gasped for breath and took a step back, Angewomon flew over his other shoulder, in pursuit of the Slivermon R. "I've got your back, MegaGargomon!" she yelled as she nocked and pulled back a shining arrow of light. Once the arrow's radiant fletching reached her ear, the Ultimate let the bolt loose with a cry of _"Celestial Arrow!"_

The Slivermon dodged the arrow in midair, and then moved off to join its second green colleague, which was giving Dorugoramon, MagnaAngemon, and Zudomon some trouble. Angewomon scowled and flew off after it, leaving MegaGargomon to himself.

Aethermon—who was locked in hand-to-hand combat, aiding Chasermon against the gray Slivermon—seemed to have been keeping half an eye on the previous assault against MegaGargomon, because he turned for an instant and yelled, "Henry! Move away! You're too slow to be any good in close range combat! Get somewhere where you can use that firepower of yours!" The crimson Mega then yelped as the Slivermon took advantage of his momentary lapse of concentration to slam its forked tail against Aethermon's chest; the Mega was sent flying backwards about two dozen feet before he managed to regain control of his flight.

Henry and Terriermon both winced before mentally nodding. _"He's got a point.__ We're only a huge target this close. We've gotta back off,"_ Henry said to Terriermon, his hand moving reflexively to touch his cheek.

Even inside the data sphere, he could feel the cut, and the blood welling from it. As a matter of fact, his whole right cheek flared with pain at the touch of his fingers.

This revelation caused the Tamer's eyes to widen momentarily. Henry was used to feeling pretty banged up after a fight where he was Biomerged with Terriermon, but for the effects of a battle to penetrate so far into MegaGargomon's defenses was… startling. Especially at his opponent's first attack.

The Tamer's eyes narrowed. _"Right.__ We can't afford to hold back in this fight."_

Terriermon assented. _"Definitely."_ As MegaGargomon slowly retreated about thirty feet from the others, the Digimon commented, _"You remember earlier when we were walking here, when Eric said the first few minutes would be the toughest of the fight? Well, I see what he means__ now."_

Henry nodded. _"The Slivermon are at full strength__ right now__. There's no doubt they're stronger than most Megas. __But s__till…they don't seem quite as powerful as the others _said_ they would be…"_

MegaGargomon frowned as he surveyed the battleground. Paladinmon was still attacking the same Slivermon G he had been engaged with from the beginning, while Aethermon and Chasermon hammered away at the single grunt Slivermon with physical blows, to little avail. Finally, Dorugoramon, Zudomon, and both of the angelic Ultimates were attempting to land a hit against either the remaining green Slivermon or the Slivermon R that had sliced MegaGargomon's face.

_"…where are the others?"_ Henry asked in a bewildered tone. _"Velocimon said SEVEN was the normal number they __see,__ and we're definitely having WAY too much trouble for that."_

_"__Reds have some sort of camouflage__, right?"_ Terriermon queried suddenly.

_"Yeah…"_

_"And all the Slivermon in the area would gain that ability as long as there was a single red around here, right?"_

Henry half-smiled. _"I see what you mean. The rest of them are still hiding in the woods."_ The Tamer's brow furrowed. _"But why would they do that? We haven't managed a single good hit against any one of these four. Why aren't they just swarming us?__ I doubt we'd stand much of a chance, then.__"_

A little ways away, Aethermon was furiously debating this very question himself. _"Why…why…?"_ The Mega batted away a sickle almost absently as his mind nearly outran the Slivermon's quicksilver movements. _"Something's fishy here…__"_

_"You only _just_ noticed?"_ Velocimon asked sardonically. _"The fact that twelve of them __were __supposed to be here in the first place was MY first clue."_

_"…"_

With a scowl, Aethermon jumped back slightly. "I didn't want to do this before we could figure out what varieties were here," he growled under his breath to the Slivermon, "but you're not leaving me much choice." Holding out both of his hands to the side, the Mega began to pour energy into his palms and shape it with the force of his will. "Now…_Aether Wind!"_

With this cry, Aethermon thrust his hands out, and two gales of wind—laced with golden arcs of energy—erupted from his palms. The wind, which Chasermon nodded at with approval, seemed to cut the very air itself with its intensity. A huge swath of grass was ripped from the ground as the attack passed over it, and the plant-life almost immediately disintegrated from the forces pushing and pulling at it.

The Slivermon began to dodge; it halfway managed. The stream of howling wind and energy caught its lower half, and the Digimon was slammed into the field at breakneck speeds. The velocity of the gale was so great that it continued to carry the Slivermon even then, and the result revealed itself as a long trench in the ground, nearly twenty feet long. A large cloud of dust billowed upwards from this trench, masking the view of the downed Slivermon

Aethermon sagged slightly as he drew deep breaths. "I hate having…to put that much…power into an attack…"

"And we've barely begun," Chasermon said darkly as he hefted Solaris in both hands.

"Thanks. I needed to be reminded of that." Aethermon's mind wasn't on his sarcastic response, though. Instead, it was focused on the puzzle that this battle was turning out to be.

_"Why?"_

Nearly two hundred feet away, Jeri watched the battle with an anxious expression. It was easy to see that, besides Aethermon's attack a few moments ago, not much damage had been done to the Slivermon.

And the fact that only _four_ Slivermon were visible was gnawing at her.

So much so that the Tamer set her sights on the woods, looking for any sign of additional Digimon.

However, it was Joe who first noted something…off.

"See over there?" the DigiDestined asked, pointing. "Is it just me, or are some of those trees moving? And I mean the trunks, not the branches."

T.K. shaded his eyes with a hand and peered at the place Joe had pointed out. "…I think you're right, Joe. They're sort of…warping."

Jeri's eye twitched. "When those other Slivermon first appeared…" she began, thinking aloud.

T.K. seemed to get it. "Camouflage."

Kari nodded. "Then that's where those other Slivermon are."

In response, Joe cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted, _"__Hey, __Zudomon!"_

Zudomon, who was being somewhat unsuccessful in his attempts to flatten the Slivermon R that was dancing around him, turned upon hearing the faint call and replied, _"What?!"_

Joe pointed. And Zudomon seemed to get it, after a few moments of staring. "Gotcha!" Rearing his Chrome Digizoid hammer above his head, the Ultimate shouted, _"Vulcan's Hammer!"_

The hammer struck the ground and caused a miniature earthquake, but the real effect of the attack was the golden beam that shot from the contact point of the weapon and the earth. The beam flew through the air in a straight line, and—a few moments later—slammed into one of the blurring trees. Or rather, the blurring shape in _front_ of the tree.

An instant later, another Slivermon was revealed as the camouflage effect dissipated like a wave across its black body, starting from the point of impact. The Slivermon twitched and swayed in place for a moment, but no other damage was readily visible.

Then, astonishingly, more shapes began to appear next to the newly revealed Champion. Gray, green, red, and black phased into view, bringing the number of visible Slivermon up to twelve.

Zudomon grinned, emphasizing the tusks jutting from his mouth. "I _see_ you!" he called out in a sing-song voice, which really didn't match his deep tone.

Dorugoramon spared a glance at the line of Slivermon almost a hundred feet away before he smiled. "That's good to know. Which means it's time to finish _this_ little match," he said aloud as he launched himself into the air. _"Brave Metal!"_

A glittering sphere of silvery metal appeared in front of Dorugoramon's outstretched hand before the mass shot through the air at a dizzying speed. The attack moved so fast that MagnaAngemon was sure he was only seeing afterimages of the metallic sphere…

…and then the Slivermon G shrieked in an unbelievably high voice, causing the Ultimate Angel to wince. A second later, the Champion burst into data, which dissipated shortly afterwards.

MegaGargomon pumped his fist. _"YES!"_ Dorugoramon just waved a hand half-heartedly as the Beast Dragon took long, deep breaths.

Nearby, Paladinmon shouted, "One down, eleven to go! Stay focused!"

Then, a battered grunt Slivermon launched itself toward the Ultimate; it had been concealed by the dust cloud that Aethermon's special attack had thrown into the air about fifteen seconds ago. Though a little worse for the wear, the Mutant Beast was obviously prepared for a brutal attack.

Aethermon turned and shouted, _"MegaGargomon!"_

"Got 'im!" the Mega replied as he locked on. _"Mega Barrage!"_

The Slivermon twisted and writhed in midair, and managed to avoid almost half of the missiles launched at it; how the Digimon managed to move in midair—even varying his flight path by the slightest of degrees several times—and maintain his momentum in a single direction was beyond Henry. Regardless of the Champion's apparent ignorance of the laws of physics, that didn't save the Slivermon from being hammered by nearly half of MegaGargomon's arsenal. And _that_ was definitely enough to faze the Digimon.

Seemingly from out of nowhere, Chasermon leapt forward and threw himself into the air, with Solaris held horizontal at his side. _"Kingdom Key!"_

With that cry, Chasermon slashed the Slivermon clean through with his peculiar blade; a trail of golden sparks marked the path this sword traveled as it cleaved the Slivermon in two. As the grunt Slivermon dissipated, Chasermon landed gracefully on the ground before turning on his heel and running to aid Paladinmon.

MagnaAngemon then smiled as his purple energy blade, Excalibur, created a smoking furrow in Slivermon R's leathery skin. "They're weakening!" the Ultimate cried out before following through with another attack. _'The effect __even __a single Slivermon makes on the overall strength of __the rest__ is astounding…'_ the angel thought to himself as the Slivermon R gained another burn for its effort of parrying the Ultimate's blade.

Meanwhile, Aethermon was still pondering the overall battle. With a quick glance, the Mega confirmed that the other eight Slivermon were still standing motionless, out of the battle's way. _"Something just isn't adding up. They've always attacked en masse before now. What's changed?"_

Instead of receiving an answer to this question, Aethermon found another cloaked Slivermon. And this one was practically on his back.

"Oh, no you don't," the Mega breathed as he began to swing himself around. In the next instant, a golden sword with an embellished hilt was grasped firmly in both of his armored hands. _"Sky Scraper!"_

The sword's edges glowed with blue energy, and it left a swath of dazzling color in its wake. _"YAAAHHH!"_ Aethermon cried as he spun almost two hundred seventy degrees, slicing the Slivermon in two.

Or, at least, that was what _should_ have happened.

Instead, the Slivermon almost effortlessly ducked under the blade, and it retaliated in the next instant.

_"Scathing Shiv."_

Aethermon gasped in pain as the tips of both the Slivermon's sickle-limbs penetrated the flesh of his left arm. Howling in battle rage, the Mega viciously backhanded the Champion into the ground and retreated into the air, hovering as he quickly examined the double cuts running across his left triceps.

The wounds were pulsing with Aethermon's heartbeat, but they were also tingling with a very unpleasant burning sensation. "Great," Aethermon muttered. "Now I've got their venom running through me. That gives me about…ten minutes before I'm useless."

Scowling, the Mega looked down at the Slivermon that had attacked him. It was just rising from the ground, and it seemed barely to care that it had been hit across the face.

But the Slivermon's skin color was what interested the hovering Mega.

_'Silver…__blast__ it.'_ A quick glance at the motionless Slivermon by the trees added another problem. _'Still eight over there.__ That means that this one just showed up. How many of these guys _are_ there?'_

A second later, Aethermon's hazel eyes widened as he snapped back to the present. Twisting his head over his shoulder, he shouted, _"For the love of all that's holy, DON'T USE YOUR SPECIAL ATTACKS TO FINISH THEM!!!"_ In the next instant, he was again dealing with the silver Slivermon, which was slashing its limbs at him with a speed that rivaled anything Aethermon had ever encountered.

MegaGargomon, who was waiting for a chance to open up on any Slivermon that got too far away from the Mega's friends, blinked. _"Why not?!"_ he asked loudly, bewildered.

He didn't get a chance to receive an answer. His concentration was suddenly diverted by another opponent, which had appeared spontaneously out of thin air about twenty feet from the Mega. It was a black Slivermon, and it was currently flying through the air with sickles outstretched.

In this case, Henry's reflexes completely ignored Aethermon's warning.

_"Mega Barrage!"_ the Android shouted as he poured his vast arsenal into the Champion, which was closing the distance between the two rapidly.

The Slivermon B, however, seemingly made no attempt to move out of the destructive attack's path. As MegaGargomon watched with a befuddled expression, dozens of small missiles and laser attacks tore chunks out of the Digimon's hide; this effectively halted the Slivermon's momentum, and it fell to the ground, smoking and nearly in pieces. And, indeed, the Slivermon B burst into data a second later.

MegaGargomon blinked. "I don't get it! Why wasn't I supposed to use my attacks?!"

Aethermon grunted; he was currently locked in a contest of strength with the Slivermon S. The Mega was pushing his sword against the crossed sickles of the Champion, with each trying to gain some ground against the other. "Because….now…" Aethermon managed as his arms visibly trembled, "all the…rest are…immune…to that…attack…"

If it had been possible, MegaGargomon's eyes would have bulged out of their sockets. _"WHAT?!!"_

"It's the special ability of Slivermon S!" Paladinmon shouted. A second later, the crimson-armored Ultimate roared as he heaved Mjolnir above his head. Chasermon was distracting the Slivermon G that the pair was fighting, which allowed Paladinmon to finally land a solid physical blow against the Champion. As Mjolnir crushed Slivermon G's head with a loud '_squelch!__'_, the crippled Mutant Beast howled—at that same glass-shattering octave—before it violently exploded into data particles.

His chest heaving, Paladinmon added, "That attack…Mega Barrage…it's useless against the Slivermon now. They won't even flinch if you hit them with it again. And the same will go for any other attack that destroys a Slivermon while there is even a single _silver_ Slivermon in the area."

"…_THAT IS __SO__ NOT FAIR!!!"_

"Live with it," Chasermon said evenly as he turned to face another Slivermon; this newcomer was a red, which left one more green, one black, two other reds, and two grays on the sidelines of the fight.

Dorugoramon, tearing his eyes away from his own opponent (which he shared with the three DigiDestined's Ultimates), said loudly, "And you're about to see the black Slivermon's special ability up close and personal!"

Henry gritted his teeth. "And just what might _that _be?!"

Then, in front of his disbelieving eyes, the data particles that had once formed a Slivermon B…

…suddenly coalesced and regained the form of the same Champion that MegaGargomon had blasted into pieces mere moments ago.

"…"

"…Slivermon B don't like to stay dead," Dorugoramon said dryly.

With a shriek, the Mutant Beast again launched itself into the air, aiming for MegaGargomon's chest.

_'…I don't believe this.'_

"No worries," Dorugoramon said casually as the Mega suddenly appeared in front of MegaGargomon, causing the Android to blink in surprise. "I've got this one covered."

The Slivermon B apparently didn't care _who_ it attacked; it merely flexed its limbs into a higher position above its head, thus creating a rather disturbing image of a cross between a snake and a praying mantis in attack position. The fact that this mutant was howling in a rather demented manner certainly didn't make it any cuter or fuzzier.

Dorugoramon didn't seem bothered. Instead, the armored Mega merely grinned a rather merciless grin and held his arms out as though welcoming the Mutant Beast into an embrace.

Slivermon B dove right into this gesture, apparently intent on gouging two great gashes in Dorugoramon's chest. The Beast Dragon had other ideas, of course.

In the blink of an eye, Dorugoramon had seized both of the sickles and halted their progress less than six inches from his body. Slivermon B hissed, but it seemed powerless to move at the moment. Dorugoramon simply smiled again in response. "You know the nice thing about having a tail like this?" he asked, his eyes glittering with a dark humor.

_SCHICK!_

MegaGargomon gaped as Dorugoramon's blade-tipped tail twisted ruthlessly in the Slivermon's chest, spilling half a liter of dark blood onto the ground twenty feet below.

"…even when my hands are full, I'm never short a lethal weapon."

The Slivermon vanished into specks of loose data as soon as the 'lethal weapon' was pulled from its target. Over his shoulder, the armored Mega commented nonchalantly, "The chances of it being resurrected a second time are pretty slim. Just count us lucky that this one was the first to do so. It probably won't be the last until we exterminate the other black ones." The Beast Dragon then leapt forward to aid Eric and Velocimon, who were slowly beginning to overpower the Slivermon S.

MegaGargomon just stood there dumbly, watching as Dorugoramon slammed a fist into the Slivermon's unprotected side before passing by behind it. This allowed Aethermon the opportunity to quickly slip past its guard and embed the edge of his golden sword in the top of the Mutant Beast's head. As the single silver Slivermon faded away into nothingness, Dorugoramon called out, "Okay, it's business as usual! Special attacks are back on the field!"

_"…"_

_"…"_

_"…Henry?"_

_"…yeah?"_

_"…Ren's starting to scare me."_

_"…I know the feeling. I'm just glad she's on _our _side, right now…"_

Zudomon, on the other hand, seemed oblivious to any…personality quirks. Instead, the Ultimate greeted this announcement with a wide grin. "Finally!" Turning back to face the Slivermon R that he and the two angels were still fighting, somewhat ineffectively until this moment, the Sea Animal shouted, _"Vulcan's Hammer!"_

Instead of pounding the ground, Zudomon opted to instead hit the Slivermon right on the head, thus transferring the full force of the attack right into the Mutant Beast's body. It seemed to work, too; the Slivermon R was left twitching slightly as it shook its head in a peculiar dance.

Angewomon, taking advantage of the Mutant Beast's temporarily stunned state, situated herself directly behind the Digimon. _"Heaven's Charm!"_ she called out, slapping her palms together and then spreading them wide. The resulting cross of pink energy slammed into the Slivermon's back before effectively vaporizing it.

Some distance away, Kari let out a whoop. "I think we're gaining the upper hand!"

T.K. nodded, wearing a small smile on his face. "You see? There was nothing to worry about," he said confidently.

Jeri's eyes flicked over to the blond DigiDestined before she nodded in agreement. "I…guess so." The Tamer smiled to herself. _'Yeah.__ No problem.'_

xxxxx

A small figure crouched in the grass, watching the epic battle raging with wide eyes. _'This…this is definitely worth the risk,'_ the being decided to himself.

And things were _really_ getting interesting now. The most intense parts of the fight seemed to be over, but now was the time when each side had the time and the motivation to plan their moves carefully, considering as many variables in their heads as they could in between attacks. That alone could possibly decide the winners of this bout; watching countless matches between opposing Digimon in the ring had taught the little being _that_ much.

Settling down for a long wait, the figure spared a glance at the humans standing not too far away. They hadn't noticed him yet, which was all well and good. As long as they minded their own business and didn't spoil his little adventure, they were perfectly welcome to stay out of his way.

Still…a peculiar tugging sensation jerked at the Rookie when his blue eyes passed over the four humans.

A moment later, when the feeling didn't return, Leormon shook his head dismissively and turned his gaze back to the battle at hand.

XxXxX

/DigiWorld Gamma. The Castle. 6:18 p.m./

"I think this is the entrance hall," Keramon stated, peering around cautiously. Strangely enough, the large hall that the group had entered from a side corridor was deserted.

Mako scratched his head. "Is it just me, or is it…too quiet here?"

Ken frowned. "I get that feeling, too, Mako." His blue eyes drifted from the floor to the ceiling, and then from wall to wall. "It's completely empty. And it looks like we've got a clean run at the front door."

"Which makes it very likely that we're about to run into some trouble," Izzy commented with a repressed sigh.

"What makes you think that?" Cody asked, his mind not really on the question. He had a feeling he knew the answer anyway.

"Experience," the redhead responded simply.

"…ah. Right. I seem to have forgotten one of the basic laws of adventuring…"

Yolei crossed her arms. "Well, what do we do?"

Ryo shrugged in response. "Walking into an ambush knowing that there _is_ one is a good way to start saving our hides. Besides, I doubt there's another convenient way out of here. That leaves us with one choice, however risky it might be."

"Walk out into the open and head straight for the exit," Ken confirmed, though he shook his head wearily. Turning to the Digimon, the DigiDestined said, "At the first sign of trouble…"

"Digivolve, we know," Hawkmon interjected.

Ryo grinned. "Just another typical day in the life of the DigiDestined, huh?"

"Indeed," the Bird-type Rookie replied, shaking his head.

The group slowly began walking towards the great twenty-foot doors on the far side of the hall; these doors were placed wide open, and they seemed to invite the crew with their accessibility.

Definitely a sign that something was amiss.

So, with alert eyes and sharp minds, the group approached the exit…

…and passed by without incident.

Finding themselves in a large courtyard, with a path at their feet that lead straight to a large, ornate gate at the far end, the crew stopped, bemused.

Yolei was the first to break the puzzled silence. "So, let me get this straight. We walked through the entire castle without meeting a single soul?"

"Yep," Tentomon supplied.

"And we are now standing on the road that will take us _out_ of said castle, with no visible detours or obstacles to impede our path?"

"Uh huh," Wormmon confirmed.

"And we didn't have to fight any major battles in order to leave?"

"No…" Hawkmon said slowly.

"…there is something fundamentally _wrong_ here…"

"My thoughts exactly," came a cold, hard voice from the entrance hall's threshold.

Ryo sighed. "Jinx," he said ruefully as the group turned around as one.

"You can say that again," Yolei muttered before her eyes found the source of the new voice.

QueenChessmon, standing at a good twelve feet in height, easily dwarfed all the humans; only Cyberdramon was almost as tall as the Mega. And this fact only added to the imposing aura that the Digimon was projecting.

Not to mention menacing.

The Mega began slowly, taking great care to enunciate every word, "I find it hard to believe that you insignificant interlopers would have the _gall_ to waltz through _my_ palace as though it were your personal playground." Her golden visor hid the upper half of her face, but it was clear from the pursed lips that QueenChessmon was _not_ happy.

Izzy said tentatively, "Um, listen, there's been a really big misunderstanding here…"

_"SILENCE!!!"_

The command was punctuated by the impact of the Queen Stick against the stone steps leading up to the entrance hall. A second later, the steps were missing a substantial portion of their stonework, leaving an empty crater in their place. In addition, a network of large cracks now ran across the rest of the steps, creating the impression of a dark spider web laying across the previously smooth rock.

QueenChessmon added, in a voice as cold as liquid nitrogen, "In my kingdom, I am judge, jury, and _executioner_." Raising the Queen Stick to the level of her shoulders, pointing straight at the anxious group, she finished grimly, "I will now exercise my authority in these roles as I remove you from the face of the earth, and from my kingdom."

Ken winced before he addressed the Digimon. "Guys?"

"Yes, Ken?" Wormmon answered for them all.

"…that was the first sign of trouble."

"…right."

The opening punches were thrown seconds later.

XxXxX

/DigiWorld Delta. 6:18 p.m./

"A little help here?!" Angewomon yelled as she twisted to the side, just avoiding the slash of the final Slivermon B. The follow-up was executed by one of its gray fellows, and Angewomon barely managed to hold back a cry as a large gash appeared in one of her eight wings.

MagnaAngemon flew in, Excalibur held extended in front of him, and managed to draw the attention of the black one as it sought to attack Angewomon from the rear. "We need to focus our attention on just a few of them!" he called out as he suddenly went from offensive to defensive; the Slivermon B was attacking too quickly to give the angel much of an opening.

Zudomon growled; he was currently standing back to back with Paladinmon, facing off against another duo of Slivermon. These two were also gray, but they still had the envenoming and cloaking abilities granted by the last green and three reds. Not to mention the occasional resurrection, courtesy of the last black that the angels were battling.

"Why," Zudomon grunted as he parried two 'Jagged Scythe' attacks with his hammer, "did the rest of these punks have to show up?!"

The battle had seemed to be going well, at first; then, in all of twenty seconds, the tables had suddenly been turned again. An infusion of three fresh grunt Slivermon, seemingly from out of nowhere, had increased the overall strength of each of the other Mutant Beasts. Fortunately, none of these Slivermon were of the colored variety; this meant that there were only five more Champions (if level really meant anything at this point) with special abilities beyond the tiresome power boost. Unfortunately, it was becoming difficult to attack these specific Slivermon, because the rest of the grunts—numbering about five, now, bringing the total number of Slivermon back to ten—had engaged in a very effective strategy: protecting those the defenders most wanted to eliminate. Although it seemed like a rather simplistic tactic, it was proving rather effective. No matter what move any of the Ultimates or Megas made, there was always a gray Slivermon there to frustrate them.

In addition, the simple inability to tell one Slivermon apart from another (at least among the gray ones) was creating a very difficult environment in which to fight. Although it seemed that only several of the Mutant Beasts were actively attacking at any one time, the fighters kept switching out, as though they were playing in a relay competition. The constant shuffle from the sidelines to the battlefield and back again was making MegaGargomon dizzy; and _he_ had the best view.

All in all, it was enough to drive Eric's brain into mush. Aside from the distractions of the battle itself, he simply had no time to make any sense of the fight; from start to finish, it had all been completely bizarre, by his standards, but he just wasn't in a good position to figure out _why_.

As Aethermon, Eric winced as his limbs trembled violently. The venom, gifted to him by the Slivermon S, was working the way it was supposed to: by sapping Aethermon's strength and rendering him unreliable at best. It was only through taking deep, calming breaths and getting a better grip on his sword that kept the Mega from dropping the weapon.

_"This is not good.__."_ the Keeper said to himself and his partner.

Velocimon, also feeling the weakening effects, grumbled, _"No kidding. We're still outnumbered, only two of us are at the Mega level—though I have to say we've done well for __that—and _we're_ practically a liability at this point. It's a wonder we haven't lost anyone by now."_

Another piece of a twisted, complex puzzle. _"I know. We're doing TOO well. If this had been any other day, with a relatively normal incursion of SEVEN Slivermon, we'd __only be in a little less danger__. NINE would have killed us by now; we know that much from experience. __It took ten Megas, including us and Dorugoramon, to stop them _that_ time, and we still lost three of our companions. __SO WHY THE __HECK__ AREN'T WE DEAD YET?!"_

_"Curious," _Velocimon commented in a bitingly sarcastic tone, _"I've been wondering the same thing. Do you believe you're reading my mind, perchance?"_

This mental conversation took place in all of just a few seconds; Aethermon simply didn't have more time than that. The moment Velocimon managed to squeeze out his last word, the final green Slivermon leapt from the ground straight at the hovering Mega. With a weary groan, Aethermon swung his sword—rather clumsily, at this point—in an attempt to parry the Champion's outstretched sickles. He managed, but only barely; instead of being skewered, the Exalted Dragon merely gained a biting slash just below his chest plate, freeing a line of blood to run thinly down his stomach.

The next attack would certainly have left Aethermon in much worse shape, if it hadn't been for MagnaAngemon. Glowing brightly, the angel interposed himself in between the Mega and the Mutant Beast, wielding his purple energy blade like a baton. "Are you alright?" the Ultimate asked as he kept the Slivermon G at bay; the Slivermon had learned to be wary of the flashing sword and its wielder.

Aethermon winced as he put a hand to the wound. "It'll probably scar," the Mega said slowly, "but I'll be fine…provided we kill that Slivermon within the next few minutes."

"The venom?"

Aethermon nodded. "I've got a little bit of time left. After that, though, I'm a sitting duck. And after _that_…well, sufficed to say, the number of active Keepers would be down to one."

MagnaAngemon's lips pursed grimly. "In that case…" the angel began, before his wings began to shine even brighter, causing Aethermon to shade his eyes reflexively. Without another word, MagnaAngemon suddenly went on the offensive. It took less than a second for the Slivermon G to recoil and begin losing ground. With furious slashes, stabs, and backhanded strokes, the radiant angel pressed his advantage, pushing the Mutant Beast backwards.

It didn't take long for the other Slivermon to notice. Moments later, two gray Slivermon jumped away from their current battles with Zudomon and Dorugoramon and stationed themselves to either side of the Slivermon G; these two raised their sickles and hissed, _"Jagged Scythe!"_

MagnaAngemon's eyes narrowed behind his purple helm. Bringing his energy blade to bear, the angel shouted, _"EXCALIBUR!"_

With a mighty cry, the Ultimate swept his sword in an arc, releasing a bright stream of violet energy. This energy stream flew forward horizontally, cutting through the Slivermon's own attacks, and then burning a large furrow across all three of the Mutant Beast's bodies.

Howling in an eerie manner, the trio suddenly became a quartet as the last active Slivermon—the final black—broke off its conflict with Angewomon and Chasermon. Now, all four of the Slivermon stood in a line, sickles raised, facing off against MagnaAngemon, who continued to shine brightly.

MegaGargomon, approaching from his previous position about ten feet away, asked, "You alright?" in Henry's voice. Aethermon nodded tersely in response; a bead of sweat was visible, running down his neck, but the Exalted Dragon gritted his teeth and focused his attention on the stand-off.

Glancing at Zudomon, Aethermon asked, "You have any clue what's going on here?"

The Ultimate shook his head, puzzled. "Not even a bit. All I can tell is that MagnaAngemon's holding his own, and then some."

Frowning thoughtfully, Aethermon said aloud, "MagnaAngemon's one of the most powerful Ultimate-level Digimon. He's practically a Mega by his own right, and even then, he's something special…"

Angewomon added, as she hovered to Aethermon's left, "But still, I've never seen him with this kind of power before. I wonder what got him going."

Dorugoramon, after landing next to Aethermon, tapped a metallic claw against his armored calf thoughtfully. "Maybe it was all that talk about hope, earlier, rising to the surface."

Aethermon snorted. "Wouldn't it figure? I'll bet T.K.'s new Digivice is reacting to just that…"

Some distance away, Kari was coming to the same conclusion. Glancing first at the glowing MagnaAngemon, who was still standing in front of the Slivermon, the girl's gaze drifted to T.K.: the teen had a confident, secure expression on his face, despite the danger his partner seemed to be in. Then, Kari's eyes noticed the upgraded D-3 hooked on T.K.'s belt.

The screen was flickering white.

Joe, after noting where Kari's attention was fixed, seemed to catch on. Clearing his throat—no one had said much in the past few minutes—the eldest DigiDestined commented, "Uh, T.K.?"

"Yeah, Joe?" the blond replied, his clear, blue eyes flicking from his distant partner to his friend.

"Your, um, Digivice is…" Joe answered, pointing at the device in question.

T.K. blinked before unhooking the Digivice and hefting it in his hand. The screen was still flickering, and with it, a small smile appeared on the DigiDestined's face.

Chuckling, T.K. said, almost to himself, "Hope really _is_ powerful, isn't it?" Then, his grin grew wider. "Well, we can't let it go to waste, now can we?" And with that, the DigiDestined raised the D-3 high over his head. _"MAGNAANGEMON!"_

The Ultimate angel's hidden eyes slid to the side in response to the yell, considering his partner with a small smile.

T.K. continued, _"Are you ready?!"_

MagnaAngemon nodded confidently. Even now, he could feel himself on the brink of something big…

…and he was definitely ready.

Suddenly, the screen of T.K.'s Digivice erupted with pure, white light, causing the humans to flinch and half-shade their eyes from the unexpected radiance.

And then, MagnaAngemon's body became a fountain of blinding colors, each contributing to the aurora-like aura that now surrounded the Ultimate.

With a cry, the angel leapt forward, Excalibur trailing behind him. In the next instant, one of the gray Slivermon nearly exploded as its data was rent apart in a microsecond by the angel's blade. The remaining trio had a little more warning, and it showed; instead of being annihilated, they were simply slaughtered like defenseless cattle.

A moment later, one of the Slivermon's data clouds began to coalesce, obviously about to give one of the Mutant Beasts a rebirth. But MagnaAngemon moved too fast for that.

_"Gate of Destiny!"_

After tracing a circle in the air with Excalibur, MagnaAngemon then backed away and allowed his attack to fully manifest itself. Little more than a second later, a rotating golden seal appeared out of thin air. Then, the seal opened along its middle, revealing a bright, featureless white field within its borders.

The coalescing data of the Slivermon was halted by some invisible force emitted by MagnaAngemon's attack; in the next instant, the data was pulled through the air and into the open seal. When the Slivermon's remnants were out of sight, the gate closed and began to rotate again before it disappeared in a haze of golden data.

MegaGargomon blinked. "…wow."

Aethermon, a moment later, breathed a sigh of relief as he felt the weakening influence of the Slivermon G's venom dissipate. Flexing his hands experimentally, the Mega nodded in satisfaction. "Much better," he said. Then, he turned to the hovering angel, who was still surrounded by a nimbus of countless shades of light. "That was pretty impressive," Aethermon said with a small grin.

MagnaAngemon, just visible from within the radiant veil of his aura, merely nodded in acknowledgement.

Paladinmon, hefting Mjolnir in his hands, turned to face the woods. "Now, there are only six opponents left," the Exalted Knight said in a relieved tone. "I don't believe we'll have much more trouble…"

He trailed off in confusion as he looked at the Slivermon who had, until this moment, stood by motionlessly on the sidelines. Now, each of the Mutant Beasts were swaying in place gently; the motions looked almost choreographed, because they were executed in _exactly_ the same manner and at _exactly _the same speed, so that each Slivermon was in the same position as each of the others at any given point in time. It took only a few seconds to realize what it looked like: a computer simulation of identical beings, each dancing to some nameless tune with flawless precision. And then, what it _meant _became equally clear.

To the Keepers, it was evidence of a perfect synchronization between each of the Slivermon.

Something fell into place in Eric's head. Frowning, the Keeper said aloud, in his own voice, "Wait a second. That's what they usually look like when they're all together…moving in unison, never in the same stance for more than a few seconds…"

"…but all the ones that weren't fighting earlier were completely still," Ren finished. Her tone was deceptively mild, but it belied the urgent force behind her voice. "They weren't moving _at all_. And they _never_ stand still in a fight. Not one of them."

As the DigiDestined, Tamers, and their Digimon stood bewildered by the sudden turn of events, Paladinmon said, his grip tightening on Mjolnir's shaft, "But now that there are six…"

Chasermon was the first to understand.

"Their connection," the Ultimate stated in a terse tone, "when there were more of them, they weren't linked as effectively. Now that there are less, they're synchronized again."

It clicked. Chasermon's words were the final piece of the puzzle, and Eric suddenly saw the solution in his mind's eye in a burst of inspiration. He could see the puzzle pieces arranging themselves in his head, snapping into place with each other in an instant; before, they had seemed clouded, murky, obscured by a fog, but now they shone clear. The overall shape of the finished puzzle, metaphorically speaking, might have been a stained glass window. Where once the pieces were disconnected and dark, they now formed shapes—a series of interrelated _facts_ that Eric now understood without a doubt—that made the Keeper's breath hitch in astonishment.

And now _everything_ made sense. Previous encounters with the Slivermon, half-remembered observations obtained in the heat of battle, idle speculation about the source of the Slivermon's abilities…the _hive mind_.

"That's it," the Keeper murmured to himself. Shaking his head, he repeated in disbelief, "That's it."

Velocimon, sharing his mind with his partner through the Biomerge, was nearly speechless. "Well…that's…"

"'It,' we know," Zudomon said impatiently. "What did you just figure out?"

Aethermon cleared his throat and nodded at the line of Slivermon. "…Ren and I have been working under the wrong assumption for years. _All_ of us have," he added, gesturing to Paladinmon and Chasermon.

It was almost visible in Dorugoramon's face that Ren and Dorumon were both still trying to piece together the same puzzle that Eric had just solved. "What do you mean?" the other Mega asked, confused.

"…the Slivermon aren't just _connected_ to each other through the hive mind," Aethermon continued, loudly enough for the DigiDestined and Jeri to hear, "they're all part of the _same being_."

Paladinmon frowned for a moment before his expression cleared as he caught on. "You mean that…in essence, there is one _Slivermon_, and what we see and fight are only different manifestations of that single being?"

Aethermon nodded. "That's it, or as close as I can figure it. But one thing's for sure: they share their data. _That's _why they get stronger when there are more of them. _That's_ why their special abilities are spread around when they're together. It's because the closer they are to each other, the closer they get to being a single being, with all the attributes and data of the elementary Slivermon."

"And yet," Chasermon added, nodding in comprehension, "they are more than the sum of their parts."

"And _that's_ why their strength increases exponentially with each new member of a group," Aethermon finished. "It's crazy, and it might not even be logical, but I think we finally figured them out." He said this with a note of tired triumph, as though an old question that had plagued him for ages was finally resolved.

Dorugoramon chuckled deep in his throat. "Heh. I wondered if we'd ever understand these guys."

Zudomon shook his head slowly. "…I'm lost."

"Don't worry," Angewomon said dryly, "you're not alone."

Henry, inside his data sphere, responded, "I think I get it. But the question is, how does this help us fight them?"

Aethermon snorted. "Now that I understand the most basic fact about the nature of the Slivermon," he said in his dual voice, "that is, the fact that they all essentially have the same data—and that the data is just in different places at the same time, contrary to the natural laws of the universe—I've got a couple of ideas." Then, Eric alone said, "And the one I'm going to use involves a rather useful card."

"A card?" Terriermon asked incredulously. "How does a card help right now?"

Dorugoramon seemed to get it. "The best part about the D-Platforms," he said with a grin, "is that they can use cards that their owner has with them…while their owners are Biomerged with their partners."

"Right in one," Aethermon finished, "Now…_Scanner, engage__ Contagious Virus, activate!_"

For less than a second, Aethermon was surrounded by a pulsing field of green energy. Then, the field vanished, but it quickly reappeared around one of the Slivermon…

…and then, each of the other Slivermon spontaneously gained a similar sickly green aura.

Above the sudden high-pitched shrieks that the Slivermon emitted, Dorugoramon explained, "The Contagious Virus card is usually used to infect a Digimon that the opponent has on the field. It cuts the afflicted Digimon's power by about half simply by activating it. Which means," he finished smugly, "that they won't be much of a threat to us for the next few minutes."

Inside his data sphere, Henry grinned. "I guess that's confirmation that the Slivermon are technically one Digimon, then," the Tamer said.

Aethermon nodded. "I guess so." Raising his golden sword, the Mega then said grimly, "And that also gives us the perfect opportunity to finish this."

Throughout this relatively long conversation, the Slivermon had, surprisingly, stayed in one place, apparently opting to simply observe the group that was impeding them. And, aside from the shrieks and a series of sudden twitches when they were infected by Eric's card, they had made no move to indicate further aggression. For a moment, Henry wondered if the Slivermon had been listening in, attempting to find out what their opponents now knew about them.

And then, Henry's idle thought seemed to be confirmed. As soon as Eric finished speaking, the Slivermon, almost as one, raised their sickles; each seemed ready to attack, despite being so weakened.

Zudomon grunted. "Well, looks like they've still got spirit left in them," the Ultimate commented. "But let's get this over with. This is getting irritating, and I hate to think how much energy MagnaAngemon's burning up there," he said, nodding to the angel.

MagnaAngemon shook his head dismissively as he raised Excalibur across his chest. "As long as T.K. continues to hold hope in our victory, I can do this all day," the angel replied, smiling.

The Slivermon froze.

The other group blinked.

"What…?" Angewomon started before she cut off abruptly.

Again, with eerily identical motions, the six Slivermon slowly swiveled their heads…

…and looked directly at Joe, Kari, Jeri, and T.K. at the top of the rise about two hundred feet away.

Henry frowned. "Do you think they heard us?" he asked, again wondering if the Slivermon were more intelligent than they appeared.

Slowly, the Slivermon again brought their eyeless gazes back to the group they faced in battle.

Aethermon's eyes widened. _"__Oh, SH—!!!"_

And then, in a burst of unbelievable speed, the Slivermon launched themselves, their bodies nearly horizontal over the ground with their swiftness…

…towards the four humans in the distance.

_"IT'S A MINORITY ATTACK!!!" _Aethermon roared as he leapt into the air, following after the Slivermon with a manic energy.

On the rise, Joe's face suddenly drained of blood as he realized what was happening, thanks in part to the Exalted Dragon's cry. Seizing Jeri and Kari's wrists in both his hands, the DigiDestined shouted, _"Run!"_ And run they did, with T.K. hot on their heels. However, as fast as the four humans were moving, it was nowhere near the league of the Slivermon's speed.

Shortly behind the Mutant Beasts—who had already crossed half the distance between themselves and the fleeing humans—Aethermon's body suddenly began to glow with cobalt flames when the Mega shouted,

In the blink of an eye, Aethermon's flying speed nearly tripled, and he closed the gap between him and the fleeing Slivermon almost instantly.

Behind him, Dorugoramon crouched before he threw himself into the air with reckless abandon. _"DON'T JUST STAND THERE!"_ the Mega bellowed, _"MOVE IT!!!"_

MegaGargomon, jerked from his dazed state of disbelief, quickly followed the Beast Dragon's command. Realizing he was far too slow to catch up in time, the Android instead screamed, _"MEGA BARRAGE!!!"_

The plethora of explosives that flew out of his armored body seemed almost to glow as they flew through the air, over the heads of Zudomon, Angewomon, and MagnaAngemon, as they too sprang forward. Thinking carefully, MegaGargomon took full command of the attack, and directed the shrieking missiles to hit the ground in between the Slivermon and his vulnerable friends. The resulting explosions tore a huge chunk out of the earth and sent a massive cloud of smoke and dirt high into the air, obscuring the DigiDestined and Jeri from view.

MegaGargomon winced as he reloaded; he hadn't expected _anything_ like this to happen. And if any of his friends were hurt…

Aethermon, meanwhile, was unleashing a series of hyper-fast punches and kicks on one of the Slivermon. With each attack faster than the eye could track, the Mega pummeled the Mutant Beast nearly a hundred times in the space of three seconds. With a final, enraged cry, Aethermon focused his willpower and released the blue flames burning all over his body. In an instant, the flames had been compressed into a stream, aimed right at the Slivermon.

An instant later, the only thing left of the Digimon was scattered data riding the wind.

Close behind, Dorugoramon was prepared to release his own attack. _"GRAND…!"_

But suddenly, she was cut off as MagnaAngemon, flying at a speed that boggled the mind, zoomed past her and headed right into the fray.

The Mega blinked before his eyes narrowed in speculation. The Ultimate angel was glowing even brighter than before…

_"__MAGNAANGEMON, MEGA DIGIVO__L__V__E TO…__!!!"_

And for good reason.

In an explosion of color and white light that blew away the veil of smoke thrown up by MegaGargomon's attack, a new, Mega-level Digimon revealed itself in the instant before it set upon a trailing Slivermon.

The Angel—because it could hardly be anything else—gleamed silver under the bright sunlight; in a slight contrast to MagnaAngemon, this Mega had eight wings—held parallel to each other and closely together, almost against and above his back—that were seemingly made out of silver blades. MagnaAngemon's purple bishop's miter was now a steel helm; a thin eye slit near the bottom of the helm revealed not a pair of eyes, but a tinted black visor, like that of a motorcycle helmet. In addition, a bladed horn jutted upwards from the top of the helm; behind this armor, a crop of spiky blue hair was visible trailing down to just above the Mega's shoulder blades. Topping off the armor was the pair of silver pauldrons covering his shoulders, and a breastplate of matching color. The rest of the angel's body, including his torso and arms, was covered in black leather belts with silver buckles holding them tight.

The most striking features of the new Digimon were the twin blades that began at the Mega's elbows and extended past where his hands would have ended. These blades had a single sharp edge, and they were minutely curved along this side, resulting in a shape like a katana.

As a finishing touch, the crest of Hope was emblazoned, in gold, on the Digmon's silver breastplate.

_"…GUARDIANGEMON!"_

GuardiAngemon's bladed arms were little more than silvery blurs as they sliced a Slivermon to ribbons; the Mega barely took a breath before moving on to the next one, which had about a second to throw together a desperate defense against—

_"Heaven's Ripper!"_

The Slivermon was promptly quartered as a cross of golden energy cut through it like a knife through tissue paper.

T.K. threw a glance over his shoulder, while still running. "GuardiAngemon… huh? Wait'll… Matt gets a… load of… him…" he panted, pumping his arms furiously as he sprinted through the field.

Joe wheezed, "T.K…you really need to…put your priorities…in order…"

A short distance away, Dorugoramon grinned. "Not exactly what I was expecting, but it's an awesome Digivolution." His eyes narrowing again, the Mega then said, "Now, before I was interrupted, I was about to do this…" Curling his hands almost into claws, Dorugoramon shouted, _"Grand Dyne!"_

His hands erupted with red and orange fire; in the next instant, the Mega was directing a stream of superheated flames directly at another of the Slivermon. "If you can't stand the heat," he commented offhandedly as the Slivermon writhed in the inferno, _"then DIE!"_

The Slivermon seemed to follow his advice, because it dissipated moments later.

While Dorugoramon smirked, Paladinmon leapt forward. _"Hallowed Light!"_ he shouted, holding Mjolnir straight above his head.

The great war hammer began to glow faintly; however, the attack actually came from the sky. A beam of golden light pierced a cloud from above and then slammed right into another Slivermon's back. The Mutant Beast shrieked as it vanished in the center of the column of energy, leaving no trace of it behind when the light faded. In addition to the direct attack, however, several rings of golden energy spread like waves from the center of impact, knocking the final Slivermon to the ground about fifteen feet from Jeri, Joe, Kari, and T.K.

Now, Chasermon surged forward, Solaris held aloft. _"Ultima Blade!"_ the Warrior Digimon called out before swinging his sword in a vertical slice; a thick ribbon of bluish energy rippled from the blade's edge, and neatly caught the Slivermon in the back.

With a final, despairing screech that threatened to rupture Jeri's eardrums, the Mutant Beast flickered, warped, and then burst apart.

Everything went silent; the only sounds were the wind rustling through the field and the DigiDestined's heavy breathing.

At last, Jeri said tentatively, "Is that…is that all of them?"

Paladinmon gave a short bark of a laugh. "I believe it is!" Mjolnir disappeared from his hands in a small flash of light, apparently dismissed by its wielder.

Sighing in relief, MegaGargomon de-Digivolved, leaving Henry and Terriermon swaying on their feet. "Ahh…" Terriermon moaned. "We hardly did anything, and I can barely stand up straight," the Rookie lamented before falling onto his backside.

Aethermon and Dorugoramon followed the pair's lead, and moments later, the Keepers and their partners were sprawled out in the wheat. "Well," Eric said, "that's what happens when you fight Slivermon. They take a lot out of you…" Sighing, the teen looked over at Henry. A moment later, Eric asked, "How's that cut?"

Henry blinked before his hand instinctively reached for his cheek. A few flecks of dried blood came away at his touch, but there was less pain than from before, during the battle. Still, the wound felt rather deep. "I don't know. How does it look?"

Jeri leaned in, looking over Henry's face with a slightly pale expression. "It's, um, not too bad…I guess." Swallowing, the girl managed a weak smile. "I think it's going to turn into a scar, though."

"Huh." Henry shook his head. "That's one of the few time being in a fight has left a mark like that."

"You're fortunate you got away with just a scar," Velocimon commented. Turning his head, the raptor then said, "What about you, Eric? I feel fine, so you must have taken the brunt of those attacks, earlier."

Eric put a hand to the bottom of his chest, a pensive expression on his face. "I'll look at it later," the Keeper finally said. "It doesn't hurt much, so I should be fine. And my arm's barely scratched."

"If it needs any attention later," Joe said, flopping down next to the teen, "I'd be happy to help. A medical degree doesn't do anyone much good if it isn't used." Turning to Henry, he added, "And that goes for you, too." Henry half-waved a hand in acknowledgment.

Eric's lips twitched. "Thanks. I appreciate that." Reaching into his trench coat's inner breast pocket, the blond pulled out his sunglasses and placed them back in front of his slightly squinting eyes. "Well, I don't know about you," he began as he laboriously rose to his feet, "but I'm wiped. What say we head out, get some food, and then some sleep?"

Paladinmon offered with a smile, "If you'd like, you can join us in town. Doubtless, there's going to be a celebration once word gets out."

Zudomon groaned before de-Digivolving back into Gomamon. "I'm really not in the mood for crowds," the Rookie bewailed as Joe picked him up. The Digimon hung limply from his partner's arms: a testament to his weariness.

Joe shook his head. "If Gomamon's not up for a party, then I don't think the rest of us are, either," the DigiDestined said apologetically. Paladinmon simply waved aside the apology with his hand.

"You need not say more," the Ultimate said congenially. "Perhaps tomorrow would be a better time…"

"Tomorrow sounds great," T.K. said, grinning. Turning to his partner, the teen asked, "Well, I know your new form is really cool, GuardiAngemon, but aren't you going to de-Digivolve?"

The Mega-level Angel frowned. "There is another Digimon nearby," he said in an authoritative voice, his gaze drifting to a patch of wheat about ten feet away.

Within that patch, Leormon winced and began slinking away. A moment later, however, he was stopped in his tracks with a yowl as Chasermon plucked the Rookie from the ground by the scruff of his neck. Leormon hissed and reached out with his claws, but Chasermon merely held the Rookie at arm's length and surveyed the Digimon impassively.

"What do you want from me?" Leormon finally called out. "I didn't _do_ anything!"

Angewomon, who held a glowing arrow ready, dismissed the attack a moment later. "What do we have here?"

Paladinmon frowned behind his helmet and said, "You are Leormon, are you not?" A few feet away, Jeri blinked both at the sight of the Rookie and his name.

_'That's the Digimon I tripped over earlier in town,'_ she thought to herself. _'And his name sounds so much like Leomon's…'_ she added, marveling to herself. The latter point was to be expected, perhaps, with two Digimon formatted after lions, but still…

"Yeah, I'm Leormon," the cub replied with a scowl. "Why? What does it matter?"

Paladinmon merely shook his head. "I had not realized that your taste for adventure would carry you so close to such danger. Were you watching our entire battle?"

The Rookie nodded firmly; though his face expressed little more than irritation—Chasermon holding him by the neck probably had something to do with that—his blue eyes glittered with excitement.

T.K. scratched his head. "I don't get it. What's with this little guy?"

"Hey! Watch who you're calling _little_!"

Jeri half-smiled. _'He m__ay__ remind me of Leomon in some ways,'_ she mused, _'but he's definitely his own person. I don't think I've seen any of Leomon's manners in him__ yet.'_ A funny thought tugged at the back of her mind, but Jeri had little chance to place it.

"He's just one of those Digimon looking for his place in life," Dorumon explained, eyeing the dangling Rookie with a mixed expression of amusement and pity. "He copes by getting into mischief."

_"Hey!"_ Leormon retorted angrily before he began to struggle in Chasermon's grasp. Paladinmon shook his head again before he said wearily, "You can set him down now, Chasermon."

Chasermon looked at the little Rookie he held… and then shrugged. The Ultimate opened his fist, releasing Leormon's scruff…

…and, as a result, the Rookie dropped to the ground and landed on his head.

Terriermon laughed. "I guess it's really a myth after all: cats don't always land on their feet!"

Angewomon snorted before de-Digivolving into Gatomon. "You wouldn't be saying that if it had been me," the feline commented.

"Why?" Terriermon asked impishly. "'Cause I'm not afraid of you beating me up, and I'm pretty sure that's what you would have done if I'd laughed at _you_ falling on your head, so that's really not much of a deterrent…"

Gatomon hissed slightly. "I _meant_ that _I_ wouldn't have…" Groaning, the Champion palmed her face and muttered, "He's worse than Patamon…"

_"Hey!"_

Henry put a hand to his face, careful to avoid the cut on his right cheek. "Why do I get the feeling we've been sucked into a pointless repertoire of lame comebacks?"

"Probably because we _have_," Eric said dryly. Shaking his head, the teen added, "Back to the point…why _are_ you out here, Leormon? You probably would have gotten killed, if we hadn't beaten the Slivermon."

Huffing, the Rookie said, as he got to his feet, "I probably would have been dead anyway. They might have gone straight for town after beating you, right? At least this way, I got to see an awesome life-or-death battle with my own two eyes."

T.K. raised an eyebrow. "You're a thrill-seeker?"

Leormon snorted disdainfully before he turned away; apparently, he wasn't interested in giving any more definitive answers.

Dorumon sighed. "Forget it. His reputation for being difficult is well earned, and I, for one, am too tired to deal with this. Let's just go."

The group, after a few moments, decided to follow this advice; it really wasn't very hard to convince them at this point. So, they set off, with Paladinmon in the lead and Leormon trailing behind with a disgruntled look on his face.

After walking a little ways, Henry commented to Eric, "I'm still not sure I understand what all happened back there."

"If you mean why there were so many Slivermon, or why they weren't able to fight to their full potential with so many there," Eric responded thoughtfully, "then I'm afraid I can't help you. Today's been weird, by any standard. Still, as for the latter point," he added after a moment, "maybe there's some kind of threshold that keeps Slivermon from synchronizing perfectly once they reach a certain number. When we fought nine—this was about a year back—they were like a fine-tuned machine: nearly unbeatable, with each Slivermon working in perfect unison with the rest. That was a real nightmare," he finished, shaking his head.

Henry considered this. "But, when there were more than nine…"

"Only four of them could fight at a time, and even then, they weren't at full strength," Eric finished. Finally, the Keeper shrugged. "It's a mystery that can probably wait till another day."

Chuckling, Henry replied, "That would be preferable. I'd rather not think about Slivermon for a while, and, seriously, I've got my own world to keep in mind."

"That you do," Eric said wryly. "That you do."

"We appreciate your help, by the way," Ren said, joining the conversation. "There's no way we could have mustered enough well-trained fighters in time to stop them. Having you guys right with us was probably the best thing that could have happened."

"Must have been fate," Joe said with a small smile.

Ren raised a thin eyebrow. "Could be. We haven't had much experience with that sort of thing, but I can be grateful for good fortune in unlikely circumstances."

She and Eric chuckled quietly as the group moved on, with each member of this motley crew of fighters falling into contented silence.

Shortly, however, Velocimon turned to Chasermon and asked, "Something on your mind?"

The Ultimate was slowly tapping a finger against Solaris' hilt, which he still carried on his shoulder.

After a moment, the Warrior said slowly, "That last Slivermon…was too resilient." At Velocimon's puzzled expression, Chasermon elaborated, "I've seen Paladinmon use that attack before. The shockwaves caused by the blast should have destroyed it, and not just knocked it aside, if it had truly been the last Slivermon."

"You don't think…?" Velocimon began before his eyes narrowed and he surveyed their surroundings with suspicion.

Jeri, just catching this low-toned conversation, turned her head with a worried frown. Her eyes, sliding past the Rookie and Ultimate settled on Leormon, who was padding along in their path, wearing a sullen expression at being discussed and then ignored.

And then, she saw the ripple of air just behind the cub.

Amber eyes widening, she screamed, _"Look out! __Behind you!"_

Leormon started at the cry, and then looked over his shoulder in confusion.

A Slivermon R had phased into view, with a single sickle limb raised above Leormon's body. The Rookie froze at the sight, eyes wide in fright. Taking full advantage of its target's immobility, the Mutant Beast plunged its deadly limb—

—right into the earth where Leormon had stood motionlessly an instant before.

Henry's pulse shot through the roof as his mind caught up to his sight. _"JERI!!!"_

Jeri, in the space of two seconds, had run back and thrown herself at the motionless Rookie, knocking them both away from Slivermon R's attack; even as Henry stared, a few loose locks of brown hair flipped freely through the air, whipped around in circles by the sudden wind caused by the attack.

The Slivermon's attack sliced a knife's edge away from the back of Jeri's head.

Jeri and Leormon hit the ground a few feet away, each stunned by both the impact and the slight degree by which they had survived the assault. Slivermon R, however, was unfazed; it turned to the pair and coiled itself, preparing to leap at the two and finish the job.

Velocimon snarled fiercely. _"SEARING FLAME!"_ he called out, expelling a thick stream of red and orange fire from his mouth. The attack caught the Slivermon in the side of the head, forcing it to refocus its attention on the raptor.

A second later, Velocimon was knocked off his feet by a second Slivermon. This one, a grunt, shrieked deafeningly as it repeatedly plunged its blade-like arms into the ground, trying to pin the Rookie, who was rolling around on the ground in an attempt to avoid the attacks.

T.K. whirled around and shouted to GuardiAngemon, _"Quick, do something!"_

The Mega scowled as he leapt forward. "I can't attack when the Slivermon are so close to our friends!" the angel replied; indeed, at GuardiAngemon's approach, the first Slivermon R had scrambled to place itself within a few feet of Jeri and Leormon, who were still lying on the ground together. Instead of attacking, the Slivermon seemed almost to leer at the group, effectively saying, _"We __could kill them. __What are you going to do to stop us?"_

"BIG MISTAKE!" Dorumon suddenly roared as he threw himself onto the Slivermon's back. In an instant, the Rookie yelled, _"Metal Cannon!"_

The sphere of metal that materialized in front of the Rookie streaked across the short distance to the back of the Slivermon R's head, humming ominously, as though the attack itself carried the same rage that had possessed Dorumon.

And then, the attack connected. In a grisly display, the Slivermon's head exploded into bloody scraps of red flesh and white bone, effectively decapitating the Mutant Beast. Its body, after Dorumon jumped off it, followed suit and went to pieces a moment later.

The final Slivermon hissed, and abruptly changed tactics. Throwing itself away from Velocimon—who was preparing himself for a point-blank fire attack—the Champion hurtled through the air…

…straight at Kari, who stood nearly alone just six feet away.

Time suddenly seemed to stand still. Fifteen horrified gazes tracked the Digimon's progress and watched, in slow motion, as its sickles were raised in preparation for a final, lethal assault.

Kari herself could only stare death in the eye with a stricken expression. In an instant, she saw her life flashing before her eyes; she had a moment of time, which seemed to stretch on for an eternity, when she contemplated how clichéd that expression was…and how accurate it truly _was _turning out to be.

She couldn't hear Gatomon's desperate cry; only the sibilant hiss of the Slivermon as it—ever so slowly—said, _"Scathing Shiv…"_

Oddly, the next thing she saw wasn't warm, inviting light.

It was total, absolute darkness.

xxxxx

T.K.'s jaw dropped. One second, the Slivermon was nearly upon Kari, ready to fillet her. The next, Kari was enveloped in…darkness. Like an egg, a field of pure _black_ encased the DigiDestined, completely hiding her from view.

And then, the darkness vanished; it simply evaporated, leaving nothing behind.

Nothing…including Kari Kamiya.

All this took place in an instant. The Slivermon, its target now gone, turned its attack into a less than graceful landing, and it bounced back into the air as it landed on its side. Chasermon was on top of the Champion a second later.

_"Kingdom Key!"_ the Ultimate cried out, slashing the Mutant Beast with his glowing sword. The trail of golden sparks that trailed behind snapped and fizzled in midair, adding another damaging element to the attack.

The final Slivermon died quietly, in a contrast to some of its fellows. Instead of shrieking at the top of its lungs, it merely fixed an eyeless gaze on the group as its body disappeared beneath it.

T.K. could have sworn it was laughing at them.

But then, as the Slivermon's data was lost to the environment, his brain snapped back to the present.

"Kari…?" he said aloud, completely bewildered. Then, with a growing sense of urgency, he cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted to the world at large, _"KARI!"_

Jeri blinked owlishly several times; she was, to put it simply, stunned. At the moment, she was kneeling on the ground, with a hand resting on Leormon's back; the little Rookie was equally still, breathing shallowly out of shock. Then, realizing that the rest of the group was frozen in place—with the exception of Chasermon, who was surveying the area calmly—Jeri slowly got to her feet.

She looked over at Henry, who wore an expression of equal parts confusion and alarm. For once, Terriermon had nothing to say.

"What…just happened?" Jeri finally managed, putting a hand to her temple. She could feel a headache coming on.

_"__KARI__!!!"_

xxxxx

Leviamon, from his hiding place in the woods not far away, observed the group—now minus one of its members—thoughtfully.

He had to admit: the Slivermon were an intriguing Digimon. It was something of a disappointment that he hadn't the time to investigate them more closely. They could make useful—if dangerous—allies once the Demon Lords expanded into this world, assuming that he had something that the Slivermon might want, and they had the intelligence to understand such an arrangement. But, for now, Leviamon's attention was fixed on the DigiDestined.

And yet, his thoughts were conflicted on three fronts: first, his desire to storm across the plains and attack immediately. This was the perfect time, after all. The DigiDestined and their companions had just fought an immensely tiring battle; not to mention the fact that one of their numbers was suddenly not there, which had obviously put the rest into a state of shock. How could they possibly resist him, Leviamon, the strongest of the Great Demon Lords?

But the second train of thought kept him in hiding for the moment. The great crocodile was confused…and slightly annoyed because of that.

_'What could HE want with the Child of Light?!'_ Leviamon wondered to himself, fuming. _'I'd recognize that portal anywhere. It couldn't be anyone else. But WHY would he save one of the DigiDestined from certain death? True, that fool has too many altruistic tendencies for his own good, but still…something about this doesn't feel right__'_

Being unsure was one of the things that most unsettled Leviamon; he wanted to get things _done_, not stand around pondering an unknown variable in the equation. And yet, despite his urges to rush out and attack _NOW_, a tiny voice of caution refused to stand down in the back of the Demon Lord's mind.

These two impulses were waging battle with each other, but the third was what truly kept the great crocodile shivering and rooted in place.

It was GuardiAngemon, who was hovering above the heads of the DigiDestined, peering across the landscape as though he could find the lost Child of Light with vigilant surveillance.

Leviamon shuddered at the sight of the angel, and had to consciously resist the urge to retreat to a nice, big body of water somewhere far, far away…

He might have been the strongest of the Great Demon Lords, but the massive Demon Lord had a single, critical weakness that threatened to ruin any plans he had laid.

Leviamon was scared to death of angels.

It was an irrational fear that pierced the Demon Lord to the very core; for some reason that even he didn't understand, the very sight of an Angel-type Digimon made him want to flee and hide in some hole deep at the bottom of the ocean.

He hated himself for such absurd cowardice, but he couldn't bring himself to face it. And so, he couldn't force himself to attack.

At long last, after waging a silent war inside his mind, Leviamon slowly began to retreat. As he did so, he repeated a series of rationalizations to himself. _'I have no idea what HE has planned, and I don't want to step right into the middle of what could easily be a trap. And such a trap, laid by him of all people, could destroy me. And besides, there's no water around here. I'm strongest near water, and I should always be at my full potential during a battle. __After all, o__nly fools rush in where…'_

Leviamon let out a long, shuddering breath as he continued to quietly weave his way through the trees.

_'…I HATE that saying…'_

XxXxX

/DigiWorld Beta. 6:19 p.m./

"Is it just me, or is the sun setting kind of early?" Kenta asked aloud, scratching his head.

Gamblermon spared a glance at the darkening sky before laughing. "No, no. If we were going anywhere but DigiVegas, we'd still have another couple of hours of daylight left to us."

"So what's so special about DigiVegas?" Matt asked. The blond was overcoming his initial suspiciousness of their traveling companion, but he was still wary in his speech with the Ultimate.

Said Digimon smiled indulgingly. "Normally, I'd keep it a surprise, just to give you something to look forward to—" Here, Tai snorted. "—but seeing as you are all doing me a great favor, I'll explain."

Gesturing to the sky—which was deepening from dark blue to a sort of bluish-black—and then to the horizon, Gamblermon said, "DigiVegas is a city of perpetual night. For some reason, the city itself and the area around it have never seen the sun's light. You'd expect such an arrangement to lend itself to a rather dark and dismal setting," he continued, "but DigiVegas is too full of life to allow that. The lights can be seen from miles away, all glistening and twinkling like pure, multi-colored stars coming to rest on the sand…"

The Ultimate trailed off with a smile; obviously, the city was enchanting. From the sounds of it, it was a great place to stay. Perhaps that was a bit much to infer from just a short description of the city's physical appearance, but Gamblermon's tone was almost fond.

But Tai wondered just how close this Digital facsimile was to the _real_ Las Vegas. If it was even a credible copy, there would doubtless be some elements of the city life that would best be avoided. The DigiDestined wondered if Gamblermon had taken this into account when he had enlisted several children to help him in his venture.

Kenta, meanwhile, had a frown on his face. "Wait…you can see the city lights from miles away…but we've been walking for nearly two hours…just how far away _is_ DigiVegas from here?"

Gamblermon waved a hand. "Maybe two miles."

Sora gained a puzzled expression. "Then why don't we see any lights yet?"

"When I left to find some help," Gamblermon responded, not even turning around, "there was a mass power outage. It's quite possible they haven't quite fixed it yet."

The older DigiDestined facefaulted.

Gamblermon chuckled aloud. "You needn't worry: by the time we're done, I'll have shown you all the worthwhile sights of DigiVegas…and you might even appreciate first seeing the city as it really is _after_ reaching it.

xxxxx

Fast forward about fifteen minutes.

The group was huddled close together, following Gamblermon like a mother hen's chicks. It wasn't exactly because DigiVegas was sort of foreboding with all the lights off, or because a thin mass of faceless strangers passed by in every direction with very little conversation.

Okay, maybe it was.

The point is, the group was slowly making their way through the wide streets of DigiVegas, which were, fortunately, not saturated with other beings, as they typically were when all the lights were on and the businesses were running (as Gamblermon explained). Their destination was a ritzy hotel where Gamblermon had previously procured a large suite; and this hotel soon came into view, leaving the DigiDestined, Tamers, and their Digimon 'suitably' impressed.

Even though, the front of the hotel—which was practically a skyscraper in its own right, relative to the surrounding buildings—was obscured by the darkness of perpetual night, it was easy to see that it had been built with great care and consideration. Neither garish nor opulent, it had a simple, elegant architecture that Sora immediately appreciated. The face of the hotel was mostly plain and simple, but there were several stone pillars that supported a large patio above the entrance of the building; it appeared that a café was in operation on this patio, as there were a great number of small, circular tables and accompanying chairs situated all across the tiled floor. There was also a slightly elevated stand in the center, with some clear space surrounding it; apparently, a band normally played there.

Above this patio were countless rows and columns of wide, dark windows. A quick estimate on Kenta's part placed about two hundred separate rooms in the front of the building alone, and it was hard to tell how far back the building actually ran. At the top five floors, the windows seemed to stretch on for twelve or fifteen feet, cutting the number of rooms down to three per floor at those levels (again, at the front). Obviously, those were the largest and most luxurious of the rooms.

Gamblermon noted the group's appreciative looks. Smiling, the Ultimate said, "Mine is the middle room on the second to highest floor. There will be ample room for all of us."

Suzie and Ai grinned excitedly. The latter turned to the former and asked happily, "Have you ever stayed in a place like this before, Suzie?"

The young Wong shook her head slowly. "Nope. But I can't wait to see what it's like inside!" Her trepidation of DigiVegas forgotten at the prospect of such expansive accommodations—and they were so high above the ground, too!—the Tamer skipped the remaining distance between her and the hotel, with Ai on her heels.

Sora chuckled at the pair, and then at Gamblermon's approving nod. Perhaps Gamblermon really _was _a nice guy. A little odd, but then again, what Digimon friends of theirs _weren't_ a little curious in some way or another?

Stepping through the glass doors of the hotel—called _'The Cat's Meow'_,according to the ornate neon sign (which was currently dark) above the door—the group was greeted by a pair of Digimon behind a long oak desk, which was illuminated by a row of white candles.

The first of the Digimon seemed to be a bipedal golden retriever; from the face, body shape, and long white hair flowing behind it, it was a _she_. Dressed in white sleeveless dress that seemed Egyptian in origin, and wearing a number of gold bands and jewelry around her waist, neck, and wrists, she cut a striking figure next to her companion.

Her companion, in comparison, seemed to be a golden wolf, also standing on his hind legs. He was dressed in a similar manner and style as the other Digimon, though without the jewelry. Although the being looked akin to WereGarurumon, the neat golden fur and the smaller snout made it obvious that he was a different variety of Digimon.

The golden retriever smiled upon seeing the crew, and said warmly, "Well, Gamblermon it's nice to see you back. And I assume that the entourage is with you?"

"It's very nice to _be_ back, thank you very much, Canewomon," Gamblermon replied amiably. "And yes, they're with me, if that wouldn't be too much trouble," he added with a quirked eyebrow and a grin.

Canewomon's companion shrugged his shoulders. "Not a problem. We're full up, despite the power outage, so there's really no point in asking you to take more rooms," the wolf commented with a mirrored grin. "Besides, more guests means more room service. Which means a bigger bill…" The Mega abruptly grunted as Canewomon elbowed him in the side.

"You'll have to ignore him," the Spellcaster Digimon commented in a friendly tone. "MahouGarurumon really doesn't know when to when to keep quiet. _Do you?_" she added in a more severe tone directed at her friend.

MahouGarurumon winced. "No, dear…"

Smiling, Canewomon turned her attention back to the amused group. "The elevator's over to your right. And you're free to visit the Kitty Kafé at any time once the power comes back on."

Gamblermon bowed low, throwing his right hand into a circular flourish as he leaned over his arm. "Your hospitality is greatly appreciated, my fair lady. I'm glad it isn't too much nuisance for my friends to impose…"

Canewomon waved him off, though she was blushing red in the cheeks and giggling. "It's no problem at all, Gamblermon. We hope you all enjoy your stay with us."

The rest of the group nodded quickly, and Sora and Biyomon also bowed at the waist in gratitude. "Thank you very much," Biyomon added to Gamblermon's sentiments.

Impmon snorted before saying, "Yeah, t'anks, toots." That earned a reproving glare from Ai; Impmon was considerate enough to wince.

Canewomon smiled in response as the group headed for the elevator. Once they were about ten feet away, the Digimon turned to MahouGarurumon and asked, in a stage whisper, "Now, why can't _you_ treat me like that?"

"What?" the other Mega asked in confusion. "You want to call you 'toots?'"

"No!" Canewomon replied with a frown. "I mean like _Gamblermon_ does!"

MahouGarurumon puffed up his chest. "What's that dandy got that I haven't got?" he asked, fuming comically.

"Well, let's see," Canewomon answered as she began counting off on her fingers. "Charm, charisma, chivalry, manners…"

"Okay, okay, I get the idea…"

The group smiled at the couple's bickering as the elevator doors closed.

xxxxx

"Wow," Matt exclaimed on seeing their room for the first time.

Or rather, the living room. Because that's what it seemed to be. The room that the group stepped into was very large and open, with a single step leading to a carpeted floor that immediately enticed Agumon and Gabumon to collapse on it with blissful expressions.

The group plopped down onto several different leather couches situated around the living room, glancing over their shoulders at the doorways to numerous bedrooms and bathrooms along the walls.

Impmon, however, immediately noticed the fully stocked bar sitting off to the side.

Tai sweatdropped as the little Rookie enthusiastically leapt onto the bar and pulled a bottle of some dark red liquid out of a rack. "I'm not so sure that Impmon's a very good influence on our partners…or us, for that matter," the DigiDestined commented as he watched the mischievous Digimon seize a glass from a shelf on the bar's back side and pop the cork out of the bottle.

"Trust me," Kenta replied, watching Impmon with a bemused expression. "He's not." Ai simply shook her head wearily.

Gamblermon chuckled as he approached the extended window, which nearly formed the entire wall, and began to draw back the thick curtain draped along its whole length. "There's no need to worry," the Ultimate commented placatingly. "I'm not a drinker, so I asked for the bar to be stocked with juices and other non-alcoholic beverages."

Impmon paused in the process of pouring himself a drink from the bottle and went, "Eh?" After staring at the liquid already in his glass, the Rookie shrugged and tossed the drink back anyway.

Smacking his lips, he then scowled. "Grape juice. Feh." Fortunately, instead of throwing the offending bottle against the wall, as was his inclination, Impmon placed it back on the bar and then settled himself on the same surface; with his feet dangling over the edge, kicking back and forth, the Rookie asked, "So, when's dis tournament supposed ta start?"

"Around about nine," Gamblermon answered, still drawing back the curtain. "That gives us some time to relax after that long walk."

"Good thing, too," Matt said as he laid down on the couch; his head conveniently fell into Sora's lap. "We were really hoofing it."

Sora chuckled before she leaned her own head back against the couch's cushioned top and closed her eyes. "You know, it's kind of funny," the girl commented, "that the hotel is called 'The Cat's Meow' and the café is 'Kitty Kafé'…"

"…when both its owners are dogs?" Tai asked, looking at his two friends with a wistful smile.

Gamblermon stepped back from the now revealed window. "They prefer the term 'canines' actually," the Ultimate said. "But yes, the names are sort of a joke between the two of them."

The group fell silent as its member finally began to relax. For the first time since they had been thrown into this Digital World, they were actually comfortable, and they had a clear goal in front of them.

However peculiar that goal might be.

At last, Gabumon's ears twitched. Rising from the carpet, the Rookie asked, "Do you hear something?"

A faint rattling sound had become audible from within the walls; it was a repeating sound, almost like a clanking in cycles.

Gamblermon cocked his head before smiling. "That's the air conditioning. The power's back on." The Demon Man gestured out the window. "Come take a look. You're in for a treat."

The group assembled in front of the glass, peering out at the dark cityscape; it was really a magnificent view, as the whole city was visible. It seemed that the hotel was significantly higher than a great majority of the other buildings in this area of DigiVegas, which afforded great visibility from the upper floors.

At first, despite Gamblermon's prompt, nothing changed. Then, a lighted window became visible in a building down the street. Then another on the other side of the city. And then another, and another, and…

Like a Christmas tree in slow motion, the lights of DigiVegas began to flare into life. The first to come on were those lights used specifically for practical illumination; this lit up the insides of many towers and smaller buildings, each in different places all over the area. Then came the neon signs. All at once, the glowing tubes became readily visible even from a great height; each sign was different in shape, size, and color. So much so that the city had practically become a broken rainbow, with its pieces scattered to and fro with little forethought.

Then came the decorative lights.

In an explosion of radiance, DigiVegas was revealed in all its flashing, dazzling glory. It was like a light-up circuit board with tens of thousands of different outlets, glittering brightly and throwing back the cover of darkness that the perpetual night had settled upon the city. And along with the light came sound; as the power came back on, Digimon began to pour out onto the streets, all talking noisily with the others. Strains of music—of all different styles but with one volume: loud—began to drift upwards, even to the top of The Cat's Meow. Suzie and Ai had to consciously remember to take deep breaths to keep from falling over in delight.

Gamblermon smiled. "It's wonderful, isn't it?"

They could only nod mutely in response.

XxXxX

Kari Kamiya took a great, gasping breath as the darkness evaporated around her, leaving her standing in the middle of a hallway. The hallway was all stone, though the floor tiles were polished and smoothly cut, and the walls were occasionally draped with some sort of hanging tapestries.

But the detail that Kari realized first was that everything was in shades of gray. Including herself.

Kari stiffened in shock as she stared at her hands and her clothing. The pink elbow-length gloves she wore were no longer pink, but a dull gray that was marginally darker than the gray of her skin.

"I'm…" she breathed, shuddering, "I'm in the… Dark Ocean…"

"The Dark Area, to be more precise."

Leaping into the air at the unexpected voice, Kari then backed away, staring at the speaker who was approaching her.

The being was hard to see, because he was draped in some sort of brown robe and wore a lighter cowl about his head, leaving only two yellow eyes visible beneath. Though the colors were muted, as all colors were in this world, Kari was reasonably sure that she had guessed them accurately. Beyond the clothing, it was hard to tell anything about the Digimon—who had now stopped in front of her and was waiting silently—beyond the fact that he was a good three feet taller than her.

Kari gulped. "I, uh…beg your pardon?"

The being replied, in an even, polite tone, "The Dark Ocean is the actual ocean of this world. The entire world itself—as well as the continental mass—is correctly called the Dark Area." Inclining his head, the Digimon said, "But I forget my manners. I am Wisemon, and I have been sent to escort you to my master."

"Your…master?" Kari squeaked tentatively. Several bad memories of the Dark Ocean…_Area_ were flowing to the forefront of her mind.

"Yes." Wisemon then turned to the side and gestured down the hall. "If you will follow me, I will present you to him. I believe he has several things he wishes to discuss with you."

Kari bit her lip fearfully, but replied slowly, "…okay…" What choice did she have, really?

So she set off after Wisemon, who leisurely strolled down one hallway and then another, in search of some particular room where, doubtless, his master was waiting.

The whole experience was rather disconcerting to the DigiDestined. One second, she had been staring a Slivermon in the face, about to kiss life farewell, and in the next, she was in another world… a world with a monochrome color range.

Kari's teeth began to chatter as she continued to follow Wisemon. It felt like there was a cool mist in the air, one that touched her skin and sucked the warmth from her. It was a decidedly uncomfortable sensation, and it was growing stronger with every step. She began to realize that she was approaching something that held a power—a _darkness_—that made her skin crawl with its all-encompassing presence. It surrounded her, it pushed against her, it threatened to crush her with its magnitude, and it…

"He is waiting beyond this door," Wisemon suddenly said, drawing to a halt in front of a rather plain looking wooden door. And just like that, the oppressive feelings of darkness vanished, leaving Kari breathing deeply, trying to catch her breath.

Wisemon seemed to realize that she was in some distress, because he said, almost kindly, "Don't worry; many beings feel somewhat… overwhelmed upon meeting my master for the first time. The sensations still sneak upon even myself, at times." Placing a hand on the door's handle, he added, "But don't be anxious. You will not be harmed here. This is the closest thing to a sanctuary that exists in the Dark Area." As he slowly opened the door, he finished, in something of a warning tone, "But please, remember your manners. Rudeness is not taken lightly in this kingdom."

Kari shivered once again as she stepped over the threshold into a massive room, which was topped by an arched ceiling that defied the imagination. The teen barely noticed as Wisemon closed the door behind her, and neither did she notice the new gaze that rested upon her.

Her own eyes were fixed on the ceiling; it was like something out of a cathedral, with a series of paintings that, when Kari craned her neck up to see, clearly depicted various events frozen in time with incredible detail. Though the colors were, again, subdued into shades of gray, Kari could easily make out many Digimon that she was familiar with: Leomon, Airdramon, Gekomon, and countless others like them, were showed in the midst of a variety of activities. Farming, building cities of stone and brick, and even (she thought) singing were easily found among the many scenes. Of course, there were also panels where the Digimon were fighting each other. That wasn't surprising.

Of particular interest were the images of several Angel-type Digimon shown in the foreground of the vast painting.

"Do you like it?"

Kari started; the deep, rumbling voice had emanated from the back of the room, where Kari had neglected to look in her study of the artful ceiling.

Then she looked, and she started again. Before her eyes, laying on a huge, square cushion, a massive Digimon—easily three times her height—peered at her appraisingly. The Digimon, at first glance, seemed to be a centaur with a body covered in thick, burgundy fur, but a second look quickly proved that assumption to be false. For one thing, the Digimon's four feet each had four large, clawed toes, which definitely did _not_ belong in the equestrian family. Secondly, a pair of bat-like wings sprouted from the point where his torso and his quadruped body were joined.

And the third reason that the Digimon before her was probably not a centaur…was the pair of faceless, shark-like mouths that were visible above his front legs, to either side of his torso. At the moment, these great mouths seemed to be snoring, of all things, as they slowly opened and closed in an unsettling rhythm, revealing rows of razor sharp teeth that glinted even in the dim lighting of the room.

Kari gulped.

Then, the voice came again. "Do you like the painting?"

Kari slowly lifted her eyes from the Digimon's bizarre body, and found that the Digimon was looking at her intently from behind a blue facemask. His eyes were not visible, but the girl could feel them examining her closely.

"I…" she began. After swallowing, she said shakily, "It's very…interesting."

The Digimon smiled at that. Gesturing with a hand, he said, in a voice that, besides being deep, was rather…gentlemanly, "It is a very abridged history of the Digital World. However, you won't find the story of its creation here, for various reasons, and neither will you find the creation of the Dark Area depicted. Do you know why the latter is?"

Kari blinked, taken aback. "I'm…not sure."

Smiling serenely, the Digimon replied, "Because it was painted by one who had resigned himself to an existence here, in the Dark Area, where he was exiled to…and because he wanted something to remind him of the place he left behind. This," he added, gesturing again to the vast painting, this time with both hands, "is the result."

"But," the being said, interrupting Kari's musings, "we must get to business, for you, I am afraid, have less time than would allow us to engage in many lengthy conversations. That is a shame, as I would greatly enjoy conversing with you, but perhaps another time…"

Kari was lost. And it must have showed.

Smiling, the Digimon put a hand over his heart and bowed slightly. "Let us start from the beginning. I am GranDracmon, and I welcome you, Kari Kamiya, to the Dark Area."

XxXxX

A/N: Some of you sharp-eyed readers may find a slight tribute to Daneel Rush –Koushi- at the beginning of the chapter. He's earned more than a little recognition after all his work; that's for sure. And I'm happy to oblige.

'Digiscend' is a combination of 'Digital' and either 'ascend' or 'transcend.' Choose either one you want; the result is the same.

HA! Bet none of you saw Patamon's Mega form coming. Heh.

And just so you know, Canewomon and MahouGarurumon both belong to Ninetalesuk, who was gracious enough to lend them to me for the hotel scenes. That does NOT mean that I want to be flooded with requests to use other people's OCs, however. The opportunity shouldn't present itself again.

Well, we'll have to see when I can start the next chapter. I'll be studying for the SAT in the next few weeks, so that'll definitely cut into my spare time. Disappointing, maybe, but a good score is rather useful in the world at large. I doubt colleges will want to know exactly how many hours I spent writing Digimon fan fiction as opposed to how well I scored on a few standardized tests.

As always, thanks to Plasmasphere!

Till next time, then!


	12. Shades of Gray

Disclaimer:

"So… this is your place, huh?" Plasmasphere asks, giving Nolaquen's mansion an appraising look. "Not bad."

"And you haven't even seen the inside, yet," the author smirks. "You've gotta love the world of fanfiction: it makes all this stuff possible."

"No kidding," the beta replies. As the two approach the mansion's front doors, Plasmasphere asks, "So… what's on the agenda for today?"

"I've got another chapter for you to look over, of course; I figured doing it in person would be an interesting change from normal. Then, I thought we could stage an epic lightsaber duel on the roof. I've already drafted Takato to be cameraman."

"Uh huh…"

"Come on, this'll be the first time we get to Force-jump around the top of a mansion! If we're lucky, we might even be able to convince a few characters to join in…"

"As cannon fodder?"

"…yeah, pretty much. The great thing is, it won't require a high rating. There'd hardly be any blood—instantly cauterized wounds and all that—so what's to warrant anything greater than a 'T for Teen'?"

"…sci-fi violence, really bad jokes, and mediocre acting?"

"Jokes? Where'd you get that idea? And I'm a really good actor, just so you know…"

Nolaquen pushes open the mansion's doors and then stands on the threshold, observing the revealed chaos with an expressionless face.

Turning to the beta, Nolaquen says tonelessly, "You see? I didn't show any surprise at all."

Sighing, Plasmasphere asks loudly, "What's going on?!"

His only answer is more of what prompted the question.

Davis is standing in the middle of the room, hitting himself in the forehead with his fist. Upon noticing the two writers' stares, the DigiDestined says, in a markedly different voice than usual, "Duh… I'm bashing myself! Some writers wanted to help… but I don't _need_ 'em! Hyuk, hyuk, hyuk…"

"…"

"…"

Nearby, Tai and Matt are locked in a tug-of-war over Sora, who is giving both guys gushy, sappy, 'hearts-eyes' looks.

"Dude, she's mine!"

"No, dude, she's mine!"

"Agh! My heart has been ripped out! I must go and die in a hole!"

Sora sighs dreamily as she is pulled one way, then another.

"…"

"…"

T.K. and Kari are furtively throwing glances around the entrance hall as they mutter together, "Destiny… light and hope… angels… it's destiny, and the Daikari supporters can't stop us… destiny…"

"…"

"…"

MaloMyotismon is cackling madly as he hangs in midair, surrounded by both a cloud of blue electricity and a golden aura…

…and he's got spiky blond hair stretching all the way to his ankles.

"I have achieved the ultimate power in the universe!" the Mega cries out. "Behold! _Super...Saiyan…3!!! Now I can crush the DigiDestined with my uber awesomeness, and I am immune to happy thoughts!"_

"…"

"…"

Rika, dressed in an old fashioned dress and wearing her hair in a beehive above her head, swoons and laments from a balcony on the upper floor, "Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou, Romeo?"

Takato stumbles into the entrance hall before tripping over his fancy clothes. "Ow… I'm here, I'm here! I mean… uh, what light through yonder window smashes… I mean, breaks… man, memorizing these lines is torture!"

"…"

"…"

Guilmon and Winnie the Pooh are sitting on the ground, facing each other.

"…I like honey."

"…I like Guilmon Bread."

The two stare at each other for a moment before they launch themselves into the air with fierce war-cries. In the next instant, fluff and blood is everywhere as the two roll around, wrestling and biting each other to death.

"About time you showed up."

Nolaquen and Plasmasphere regard Eric, Velocimon, and Alice with suspicion. Noticing this, Eric waves a hand. "Don't worry, we're completely normal. After all, two of us are your OCs, so no one else can mess with us, and Alice doesn't have a part in your fic."

Nolaquen points at MaloMyotismon: Super Saiyan 3 Mode, who is busy flexing his bulging muscles. "Neither does he."

Eric just shrugs in response. Alice then takes up the thread of the conversation.

"Terriermon got to your computer."

Nolaquen palms his face. "For Pete's sake! I thought I locked the door before I left!"

"Apparently not," Velocimon comments with a small smirk. "Anyway, he was talking about wanting to preview the next chapter. Knowing him, he decided that it needed some, ah… _adjustments_."

Plasmasphere surveys the mayhem surrounding the group before shaking his head in disbelief. "If these are what he calls 'adjustments,' then Godzilla on a rampage is a 'small problem'."

Nolaquen, meanwhile, is cracking his knuckles. "Okay, he's asked for it. I'm going to write him into a locked closet with Don Knotts. And Paris Hilton. His brains are going to melt through his big ears and ooze all over the floor…" The author cackles malevolently before he sets off for his study, golden lightsaber suddenly pulsing in hand.

Plasmasphere massages his forehead—just _watching_ Davis bash himself is becoming painful—before he asks, "This is my first time over here, so I have to ask: is it _always_ like this?"

"Pretty much, yeah," Eric answers. "This is actually one of tHE QUIETER DAYS…"

tHE kEEPER STOPS IN MIDSENTENCE AS HE REALIZES THAT SOMETHING IS AMISS.

fROM ABOVE, THE AUTHOR CAN BE HEARD YELLING, _"tERRIERMON, YOUR TYPING SKILLS ARE __HORRIFIC__!!! yOU'VE PUT __**cAPS lOCK ON**, YOU STUFFED RABBIT-DOG!!!"_

oN THE GROUND FLOOR, pLASMASPHERE GROANS AND PRESSES HIS FINGERS TO HIS TEMPLES. "i NEED AN ASPIRIN."

aLICE REACHES INTO A POCKET AND PULLS OUT A BOTTLE, WHICH IS NEARLY EMPTY. tHE BETA ACCEPTS THE GODSEND GRATEFULLY.

"i GET THE FEELING THIS IS GOING TO BE A LONG DAY…"

"yOU DON'T KNOW THE HALF OF IT."

A/N: Well, there's your dose of insanity. Make sure you take plenty of water with that, but do yourself a favor and don't choke while you're laughing. That is, assuming you actually find this funny. In that case, you've probably entered 'The Nolaquen Zone'.

…save yourselves…

XxXxX

**Chapter Twelve: Shades of Gray**

XxXxX

/DigiWorld Gamma. 6:21 p.m./

Yolei grimaced as QueenChessmon let fly another savage blow with her Queen Stick, and the lanky DigiDestined watched with no small amount of trepidation as the resulting splinters of flagstone peppered Aquilamon's feathered chest. The Champion had barely avoided the direct attack, but the hail of broken stone seemed to be an equally relevant concern, judging from the Digimon's contorted look of pain.

Gritting her teeth, Yolei growled, "Is this nutcase a berserker?!" The only answer she received was tense silence, though Izzy half-opened his mouth before closing it.

Truthfully, the redhead had been about to disagree with Yolei's notion: QueenChessmon's facial expression was one of cold composure, not one of manic, unrestrained bloodlust. In addition, she was obviously planning her moves exceedingly carefully, albeit with a speed that Izzy found enviable.

Wisely, however, he decided to keep these observations to himself. At this point, riling Yolei wouldn't help things.

So far, the only good thing about this business had been a pleasant surprise. The Digivolutions had all gone as normal…with the exception of Wormmon, who, in his zeal, had suddenly bypassed the Champion level on his own for the first time.

Now, JewelBeemon's glittering green body was dancing through the air, avoiding QueenChessmon's attacks with relative ease. With pale, iridescent wings buzzing on his back, the Ultimate was turning his aerial maneuvers into an entrancing dance; the light reflected off his armor shone with all the colors of the rainbow, which illuminated Ken's beaming face.

_"Spike Buster!"_

With that cry, JewelBeemon sent a stream of golden energy pellets from the tip of his coral red, triple point spear, which the Ultimate held in his right hand. The attack exploded at QueenChessmon's feet, forcing the Mega to leap high into the air; this action, however, allowed the monarch to swing her massive croquet stick at Justimon. The opposing Mega had just leapt into the air for an attack from above, and was, thus, caught flatfooted in midair.

Barely having time to cross his arms in a weak guard, Justimon cried out in pain as he slammed into the ground, sending a plume of dirt into the air. Some corner of Ken's mind mused on the deteriorating condition of the courtyard; somebody was going to have a lot of work to do after the battle.

The rest of Ken's intellect was caught up in the dilemma of the battle. QueenChessmon was proving to be a wily opponent, and she was easily three moves ahead of the other Digimon at any given time. Sometimes more, as a recent string of blindingly fast attacks had proved; Ankylomon, MegaKabuterimon, and Aquilamon were still smarting from that volley. QueenChessmon had seemed to know exactly where each of them would be at one particular moment, and she had easily taken advantage of that precognizant hunch.

Keramon, who to this point had been watching the fight with mixed expressions nervousness and excitement, commented, "So… how exactly do you plan to win?"

Ken sighed. "That's a good question, really. QueenChessmon's a rather tough Digimon."

"She's the queen for a reason," Keramon confirmed.

"The difficulty," Ken continued as he watched JewelBeemon backpedal to avoid a series of smoothly linked attacks, "is not only that QueenChessmon is very strong, but that it's incredibly difficult to put her in a position where we can actually attack her successfully."

Izzy nodded. "It's like in real chess. The queen has the move set of every piece in the game, except for the knight's: this allows her almost free reign across the board. It also makes it almost impossible for any other piece to move into an advantageous position against the queen. Discounting the knight's movement, one of the few ways to effectively take a queen is pretty much to maneuver it into such a place that it can be taken no matter where it goes. Unfortunately, that course of action could easily necessitate the sacrifice of another piece, and that's _really_ not something we want…"

"Of course, it's not real chess," Ken added, "so that doesn't have to apply. We can still get her…"

Cody shook his head dolefully. "Problem is, short of QueenChessmon making a mistake, our options are almost as limited. She's too fast and smart to catch in a trap, and she's too strong for us to just pound at her and take damage in return."

"Tricky," Keramon said, nodding. "Well, at least there's only one of her."

"…please don't say that. You know it's just going to mess with us," Yolei groaned, palming her face.

"…ah. Right, sorry. Somehow, I felt compelled to say it aloud."

Thankfully, this jinx didn't seem to take effect. The number of combatants stayed at six, with Ankylomon and MegaKabuterimon taking the lead in the offensive against QueenChessmon.

_"Tail Hammer!"_ Ankylomon shouted as he slammed his spiked tail into the ground. A small seismic tremor seized the courtyard, and QueenChessmon raised a critical eyebrow as a fissure opened at her feet. Sniffing disdainfully, the Mega leapt to the side and landed gracefully, having avoided the attack in full.

_"Electro Shocker II!"_

A glowing ball of neon blue and crimson electricity materialized in front of MegaKabuterimon's four crossed arms; when the Ultimate spread his arms wide in a sweeping motion, the orb suddenly released its power into a steady beam. This beam then shot through the air with a crackling, droning sound.

Izzy blinked. "I haven't seen him use _that _before…"

As the energy beam neared QueenChessmon, the Mega spun her Queen Stick in a showy arc several times before placing both hands on its staff. When MegaKabuterimon's attack was few feet away, QueenChessmon swung her weapon like a baseball bat, crying out, _"Grand Cricket!"_

The head of her croquet stick, now glowing with a pale aura, impacted the much larger energy beam with a thunderous _crack!_ The resulting pressure waves ripped through MegaKabuterimon's attack like tissue paper, and a moment later, QueenChessmon stood undamaged, twirling the Queen Stick almost idly.

MegaKabuterimon suppressed a groan as he backed off; taking his place was Justimon, with his right arm morphed into his…

_"Voltage Blade!"_

With an explosion of sparks, Justimon and QueenChessmon's respective weapons collided and locked together in a contest of strength. Both Megas strained against each other, attempting to gain ground and push the other backwards.

JewelBeemon, taking advantage of QueenChessmon's momentarily grounded position, leapt towards her back, spinning his spear in a full circle. Just as the Ultimate was about to stab the monarch from behind, QueenChessmon smirked and twisted to the side, breaking her stand-off with the other Mega; off balance, Justimon stumbled forward and had a brief moment to wince as JewelBeemon's spear passed underneath his left arm—mere inches from his side—before the two Digimon slammed into each other, head first.

Mako cringed. "That's going to leave a mark…"

Izzy shook his head as QueenChessmon withdrew, fixing the combatants with a scornful gaze. _'Something's going to have to change fast,' _the DigiDestined thought, _'or things are probably just going to continue in a downwards spiral.'_

Justimon, not surprisingly, was thinking the exact same thing.

_'So…'_ Ryo commented to his partner, _'any bright ideas, pal?'_

Also not surprisingly, Cyberdramon merely growled in response.

The Tamer sighed, but it was more out of form than anything else. Thanks to the Biomerge, Ryo could catch glimpses of half-formed plans of attack in his partner's mind; the problem was that the Digimon was coming up just as dry as his Tamer.

Shaking his head, Justimon finally got to his feet… just in time to witness Aquilamon make an attempt.

_"Blast Rings!"_ the Champion cried out. The purplish energy rings that emerged from Aquilamon's mouth grew as they flew through the air until they were about five feet in diameter; the rings buzzed with power as they approached QueenChessmon, but it seemed obvious that such an attack was unlikely to do much damage.

The Mega apparently thought so as well.

"If you _must_ spoil the sanctity of my castle and challenge me to such a duel, the _least_ you could do is to provide me with some challenge!" the monarch declared arrogantly, twirling the Queen Stick between her fingers. As the croquet stick picked up speed, it began to hum slightly as it passed through the air at higher and higher speeds. Then, as the weapon reached a steady rate of revolution, Aquilamon's attack crashed into it.

The collision produced a rather disappointing explosion; in all honesty, it was more like a series of sharp firecrackers. The energy rings practically popped as they impacted against the spinning shaft of the Queen Stick, and QueenChessmon was quickly surrounded by a haze of thin smoke.

Rolling her eyes, the Mega raised her weapon to retaliate—

—and took a series of steps forward as JewelBeemon's Spike Buster attack exploded against her back.

Scowling fiercely, the Mega threw aside her flaming and sooty cape before launching herself at the hovering Ultimate. QueenChessmon looked decidedly less composed now that she had been hit.

Justimon's eyes narrowed. _'Hmm…'_

A moment later, after a confirmatory nod, the golden light of de-Digivolution surrounded the Mega. Standing in his place was Ryo and Cyberdramon, who then took to the air with a savage grin.

On the sidelines, Yolei fixed the Tamer with an incredulous look. "Pardon me for being blunt—but _what __is going through your head?__"_

"A hunch," was the vague reply.

Izzy and Ken exchanged curious looks. In the short time they'd spent with the Tamer, they'd gathered both that Ryo Akiyama was a skilled Tamer, and that he had a good head on his shoulders. When Mako caught their eyes and nodded confidently, the two relaxed marginally.

Smirking, Ryo turned his attention to the battle.

In the space of a few seconds, Cyberdramon was in the thick of it, replacing Ankylomon and MegaKabuterimon in the melee.

_"Desolation Claw!"_

Still scowling, QueenChessmon batted the erasure energy aside with a rapid movement of the Queen Stick.

_"Magna Ray!"_

The blindingly golden rays that erupted from Cyberdramon's dark armor caught the monarch off guard, and she stumbled backwards as the force of the attack slammed into her. The DigiDestined, on the other hand, stared in blank incomprehension.

_"Nuclear Laser!"_

QueenChessmon looked up just in time to catch a beam of bluish energy in the chest; her chest-plate smoking, the Mega's facial expression contorted into a grimace of pain and anger.

"Heh."

The DigiDestined blinked at Ryo; the Tamer held two cards between his fingers, and he was contemplating them with a satisfied smile.

"Magnamon and MetalTyrannomon. Well. That worked better than I thought. So…"

Quick as a flash, Ryo suddenly held three fresh cards in his hand.

"…let's mix it up even more."

The first card was slashed in a brief burst of light.

Cyberdramon snarled as a ball of green fire appeared in his mouth, licking at the sides of his cheeks. _"Heat Viper!"_

QueenChessmon cried out as the stream of molten energy hit her, and Ken felt a stirring of optimism. Turning to Izzy, he asked, "How do you think he's doing this?"

Izzy watched intently as Ryo slashed another card. As Cyberdramon threw a bolt of lightning at QueenChessmon—which Ken recognized as a MegaSeadramon's Lightning Javelin attack—the redhead commented, "I think I see… maybe. He's using a variety of attacks that Cyberdramon doesn't normally have access to. Somehow, they're having an effect. I don't know _how_ though…"

"It's actually sort of simple," Ryo said as he walked up to the group, sliding the final card through his D-Arc. "From a certain point of view."

"Care to enlighten us?" Ken asked, eyebrow raised in interest.

Some distance away, Cyberdramon convulsed for an instant as his right arm morphed into a different shape and color. Then, growling deep in his throat, the Ultimate brought his new arm to bear.

_"Giga Stick Lance!"_

A blast of blue light burst into existence from the tip of the aptly named Giga Stick Lance: courtesy of the Darkdramon card that Ryo now tucked away. The attack, greatly similar to Gallantmon's Lightning Joust, leapt from Cyberdramon's transient weapon straight into QueenChessmon's chest.

The Mega took a weak step backwards before she fell to her knees, breathing heavily.

Ryo's light blue eyes took this in as he explained, "I got to thinking. First, if the queen in chess trumps all the moves of most of the other pieces on the field, then why not use some actual moves from pieces that _aren't_ on the field?"

Izzy blinked. "You know… oddly enough, that makes a sort of sense. In a convoluted, abstract, absolutely ridiculous way, I mean. It kind of pulls us back to our chess analogies…"

"And why not?" Ryo asked. "It's obvious that all the different Chessmon are heavily influenced by the game of chess. What's to stop their various weaknesses from coming through, as well?"

Ken surveyed QueenChessmon carefully; the Mega was looking decidedly battered. Even the Queen Stick looked ready to snap in her clenched fists. "You had another idea, as well?" he asked Ryo.

The Tamer nodded. "QueenChessmon's strong. Really strong. Her offense is her best shield; we've seen that ourselves. She practically nullified all our partner's attacks with her own, and she's agile enough to avoid the rest. But it only takes a few direct hits to weaken her."

At this point, JewelBeemon descended to the ground, close enough to keep an eye on the panting monarch while lending an ear to the humans' conversation. "When my attack hit her, after she blocked Aquilamon's Blast Rings," the Ultimate said in a buzzing, yet melodious voice, "you noticed that it had a greater effect than might have been expected?"

"Yep." With that simple word, Ryo seemed to pronounce QueenChessmon's doom. "She's pretty much helpless now."

"Checkmate."

The group started as an incredibly short being stepped into view from inside the castle's entrance hall. The figure this being cut was squat and somewhat round; despite this, KingChessmon strode forward, uninterrupted, with a confident gait.

The little Mega waved his hand before repeating, "Checkmate, my dear. You've been beaten."

The change in QueenChessmon's demeanor was startling. A second ago, her face had been full of dark wrath and visible aggression. Now, however, the monarch sagged as she let out a long, resigned sigh… and nodded.

Stupefied, the group looked on as KingChessmon stopped next to his queen and patted her shoulder awkwardly. "There, there. You seem to have put up a good fight, but alas, your opponents are rather talented."

"They are," QueenChessmon relented in a grudging tone.

"As I thought."

Yolei's eye twitched. She half turned to Cody and asked in an undertone, "What do you make of this, Cody?"

The youngest DigiDestined shrugged in response and gestured towards the two Megas. "…let's just wait and find out."

Indeed, KingChessmon seemed to be willing to oblige them. Facing the assembled DigiDestined, Tamers, and their partners, the Digimon said jovially, "I salute you. It's not often that my queen is defeated in combat. Perhaps she's out of form; I know she's been splurging on the creampuffs lately…"

The group sweatdropped simultaneously.

"…but I must admit, I am surprised that I did not know of our guests until I heard the commotion. I was tending my gardens, you see, so perhaps my queen simply… neglected to inform me, hmm? She is so forgetful when I am not around," the monarch disclosed cheerfully. One could almost hear a wink in his tone; the Digimon's face was hidden behind the golden visor of his helmet and a bushy black mustache, but the gesture was obvious in his speech.

Ken suspected, however, that the small Mega knew more than he was letting on; the invisible wink seemed to convey a deeper meaning at a second glance.

QueenChessmon, meanwhile, winced. "I… yes. I was caught up in things, and I wished to take care of it myself."

"Yet there was nothing to take care of. Or rather, you were trying to resolve the wrong issue."

QueenChessmon blinked. Responding to her look of confusion, KingChessmon said gently, "Had you been paying more attention, you would have realized that our…_ guest_… was manipulating you into doing his own foul deeds."

"…what?"

The queen's voice was quiet and deadly. Unconcerned, the little Mega continued, "The Digimon who currently sits on cushions and silk inside our castle, feasting on warm milk and sweet goodies, simply walked in and told you exactly what you wanted to hear. You've always wanted to quell a rebellion, haven't you? It's another of your little quirks that I find so endearing…"

Cue another round of sweatdrops.

Finally, KingChessmon finished, "But really, from what I've gathered—you wouldn't believe the amount of gossip that passes through the gardens—he made the whole thing up, and set you up to act foolishly. Apparently, he preferred to use you to get our young friends here instead of involving himself directly." The little Mega then peered at his queen silently; Izzy almost thought he was mentally counting the seconds that passed. And, indeed, he quickly noticed KingChessmon surreptitiously ticking off fingers behind his back, in plain sight of the group—but still hidden from QueenChessmon. When the last finger was curled…

_"__OFF WITH HIS HEAD!!!"_

The humans flinched at the sudden cry, but KingChessmon simply smirked lightly. QueenChessmon, on the other hand, was suddenly on her feet. Holding the Queen Stick like a sword before her, the monarch turned to face the castle and pointed her weapon at the castle's open doors.

_"I'LL PUT HIS HEAD ON A PIKE, I'LL SEND HIS BODY TO THE __CROCODILES__, AND THEN I'LL __**BURN THE **__**CROCODILES**__!!!"_

"That's the spirit, my dear," KingChessmon said approvingly. "Now," he added, his mustache twitching in a movement suspiciously reminiscent of a smile, "have you learned your lesson?"

In the space of a second, QueenChessmon gained a contrite, shy posture. "Yes…" she said in a quiet, self-reproachful tone.

"And that is…?"

"…never trust strangers bearing poisoned apples."

The group facefaulted.

"…close enough," KingChessmon conceded. "And what else?"

QueenChessmon fidgeted. "…I should take an army with me the next time I decide to fight a duel?"

"Precisely!" the little Mega replied cheerily.

Mako and Keramon palmed their faces and groaned wearily.

Smiling, KingChessmon then made a shooing gesture with his hands. "Alright, off with you now. Why don't you take a legion or two and expel our guest?" he suggested helpfully.

And just like that, the aura of righteous rage reappeared around the taller monarch. Brandishing the Queen Stick like a flail, QueenChessmon called out, at the top of her lungs, _"Chessmon! TO ME! FOLLOW YOUR QUEEN__ TO BATTLE__!!!"_

And with that, she stomped back into the castle, leaving the group staring after her with blank faces.

KingChessmon chuckled as he sent an amused look at the crew. "She needed that."

Ken cleared his throat and asked, "Um… I assume that you knew about this whole thing from the beginning, then?"

"Oh, yes, of course," was the carefree reply. "But my queen, despite being such a clever girl, really is a bit mad, you know. She tends to forget herself, and she winds up causing all sorts of mayhem; maybe this little experience will teach her the wisdom of discretion."

Keramon chuckled. "That'll be the day…" he commented lightly before his eyes widened. Clamping his hands over his mouth, the Rookie sent a panicked look at his king.

However, the little Mega just laughed. "Yes, perhaps there is a bit of wisdom there, as well. Still, one can dream."

Shaking his head, the Digimon turned to follow his queen. Speaking over his shoulder, KingChessmon finished, "Consider yourselves free to go. I apologize for your involvement in this fiasco, but you can't argue that it wasn't fun, can you?"

The only thing the group could do was shake their heads quickly. Honestly, what other choice was there?

When KingChessmon was out of sight, and the courtyard was completely deserted, Keramon finally chuckled. "They're all mad as hatters… but you know, it _was_ kind of fun!"

The rest of his companions just stared at the Rookie as though he'd grown another head.

xxxxx

Belphemon snarled in rage. He was currently standing on the parapet of the castle, looking down into the courtyard; the Demon Lord had been enjoying the battle up until the point where the Tamer—curse him and his partner—had devised a way to achieve a victory over the deranged queen, but now he was furious.

All his efforts… utterly wasted. The stupid traps had all been ineffective, little harm had been dealt to the DigiDestined and their fellows, and _now_ QueenChessmon was storming through the castle with a horde of other Digimon, searching for _him_.

"Put my head on a pike, hmm? Feed me to the crocodiles, will you?"

His drowsiness was gone, burned up in the face of his anger. Things had been resolved in such a _stupid, idiotic _fashion. Where was the death, the blood, the gore? And _where_ had Belphemon left his _brain?_

_'I can't believe it. I dismissed that little king as a harmless dolt. My traps were worse than useless. QueenChessmon is beyond my grasp now. I've wasted SO MUCH time and energy in a venture that has proven futile__, and all because of my supposed intellect! I tried to weave a web I should have been able to master, I had toys that turned on me through their ineffectiveness, __and __I__…__LOST!!!__'_

As Belphemon seethed, a spiky purple aura began to wreath its way around his body, and the Demon Lord's form shimmered as he said darkly, "Well, come then. Once I've finished with the DigiDestined, I'll be back… and I will dispatch you all _personally_. No more go-betweens. No more games. Just death."

Thunder rolled ominously in the darkening sky as Belphemon leapt from the ramparts. As two pairs of vast, purple wings erupted from his widening back, the Demon Lord sneered. _'Your end approaches… DigiDestined.'_

XxXxX

/The Dark Area. 6:43 p.m./

"Why am I here?" Kari asked tremulously. She stood uneasily before GranDracmon, who was still resting on the massive, velvety-looking cushion.

The Mega's lips twitched slightly. "For several reasons, actually," he replied; his gracious tone might have set the wayward DigiDestined at ease, had she been anywhere else. "The first is rather obvious. Had I not opened a portal when I did… it is very likely that you would be dead right now." Apparently ignoring Kari's wince, the Demon Beast reached out a hand and picked up a crystal chalice from a small pedestal next to his cushion. Bringing the ornate cup to his mouth, he sipped at the liquid it held. "Then again," he continued, holding the chalice a few inches from his mouth, "I have to yet to see a DigiDestined fall to any of Death's messengers. One might believe that Fate favors you and your friends." GranDracmon chuckled a bit at this, for some reason.

Kari blinked up at the Digimon, nonplussed. "But… _why_ did you save me?"

GranDracmon raised an eyebrow. "Why wouldn't I have? Blindly trusting Fate to save another being is no good excuse to not lend your own assistance to that being. Far from it."

"But…" Kari stammered. "…aren't you some kind of leader here… in the Dark Area?"

"Yes," GranDracmon replied amiably, surveying the DigiDestined with a suppressed smile.

"And aren't you a… Dark Digimon?"

GranDracmon shrugged nonchalantly. "One could say so."

"Then… _why?_"

The great Mega chuckled; the sound echoed throughout the empty hall, nearly causing Kari's knees to knock together.

When the Digimon finally responded, he merely asked, "What should either of those things have to do with my helping you when you needed it?"

Kari opened her mouth to reply… but found she didn't have an answer. Instead, she blinked in confusion and slowly closed her mouth again.

GranDracmon waved a hand. "Regardless, I suppose I must continue my explanations."

"…I'd appreciate that."

Inclining his head, the Mega continued, "You mustn't think me discourteous, for bringing you here directly truly was one of the easiest ways to protect you from harm… but I must admit, I did have another reason to desire your presence here."

Kari shivered. Previous memories of her visit to the Dark Ocean were again replaying themselves in her mind.

Noting the DigiDestined's reaction, GranDracmon waved a hand dismissively. "You needn't worry. I have no desire to inflict harm on you or your companions. It's against my nature to pick fights, particularly with those whom I have no argument with."

"…okay…" Kari slowly said. _This_ was new; a Dark Digimon who didn't explicitly want the DigiDestined _dead_.

Of course, there were a lot of things worse than death… but then again, he _had_ said that he didn't mean any harm…

But how did this guy define _harm_?

GranDracmon's deep voice shook Kari from her jittery musings.

"To put it simply… the Dark Area is, at least in my region, relatively peaceful. But it may not stay that way." The Demon Beast shifted slightly on his cushion, finding a more comfortable position. "To start things off, I'll give you a brief overview of the way things are at the moment." After taking another sip from his crystal chalice, GranDracmon continued, "Dragomon's control of the Dark Ocean is nearly absolute; that, in and of itself, for the time being, is not much of a bother. Dragomon himself has been rather inactive lately, so his influence on the current state of things is negligible."

"As for myself, I control a rather vast section of the Dark Area," the Mega then stated. "Most of my realm makes up the interior of the continent. It is, perhaps, the best place to live in this world. I may be a bit biased, of course," he added self-effacingly, "but that is my humble opinion."

"The Great Demon Lords, on the other hand…" he began in a darker tone, which set Kari on edge, "…they are… making waves, so to speak."

"How so?" the teen finally asked. Despite herself, and her misgivings about the entire situation, Kari found herself becoming curious.

"Hmm…" GranDracmon rumbled to himself thoughtfully. At last, he continued, "To state it mildly… most of the trials and tribulations that have befallen the Dark Area of late—and by that, I mean the last several hundred years—have had their roots in the actions of the seven Great Demon Lords. The wars, the intrigues, the errant ventures into the Digital World…"

Heaving a great sigh, the Mega finished, "Sufficed to say, the Demon Lords are a chaotic element added to any equation. And now, they are putting their fingers into pies which they have even less right to than normally."

"You mean… the other worlds?" Kari asked, beginning to catch on. She thought.

GranDracmon nodded. "Precisely. And because of that fact, I believe that now is the most opportune time to stop them. They are spread across several worlds, and they have very few of their minions at their immediate disposal." The Mega settled back into his cushion and sipped from his chalice again. "After all, it takes a lot of energy to open even a portal from the Dark Area to the Real World; creating a passageway between entirely different and separate worlds is far more difficult, as I have recently learned…"

Kari shook her head slowly. "I'm still not following. What does that have to do with me?" Honestly, she dreaded the answer, but it still needed to be asked.

"It's simple," GranDracmon replied evenly before setting his chalice aside. Folding his hands together, the Digimon then continued, "The Demon Lords are hunting you and your friends. Not at all a desirable scenario. However…" he added with a glint in his eye, "that puts you in a position to thwart them."

Kari scrutinized the large Mega closely. "So… are you asking us to destroy the Demon Lords?" _'And do your own dirty work for you?'_ she added mentally; she really had no idea what the Digimon before her was after, but that seemed a logical guess, considering both their surroundings and the fact of who was in charge here.

GranDracmon shrugged easily. "That would have happened regardless of my interference, I'm sure. Just as I've never seen a DigiDestined killed by a foe, I've never seen one fail in the task they have set before themselves. It is very likely that things will turn out as they always have: with the DigiDestined standing triumphant at the end of it all, and their enemies fallen before their feet."

Kari shuddered. That was a rather…brutal sounding assessment. Why did he have to phrase it like that?

"But…" she finally asked, pulling back to the situation at hand, "if you think we can do this on our own, 'as always', then _why_ am I here?" Curiously, Kari suddenly felt like stamping her foot impetuously. The whole conversation was leaving her off balance, and she didn't like that one bit.

GranDracmon suddenly fixed the girl with a piercing stare. "Because I wish to ensure that likelihood of your success… which, in the current context, also translates into your survival."

Kari blinked, taken aback. Taking the teen's silence as an invitation, GranDracmon raised a hand. Momentarily clenching the hand into a fist, the Mega then relaxed it. And there, floating several inches above his palm, was a curiously shaped stone. It held a jagged look about it, and it was shaped almost like a slender arrowhead: albeit, an arrowhead with warped and notched edges that caught the pale light in such a way that it glinted faintly. The most obvious feature of this stone was the multiple streaks of reddish-orange that ran across its body in grooves. Even in the Dark Area, where all colors seemed washed out and dyed a dull, lifeless gray, the hue of these shallow cuts was unmistakably vibrant.

In fact, the colors seemed to pulse infinitesimally as the meager light caught them.

As Kari inspected the object from a distance, GranDracmon extended his hand. A moment later, the odd stone floated through the air and settled into a stationary position just in front of the DigiDestined, at shoulder height. Kari flinched slightly, and nearly took a step back, but GranDracmon's voice held her in place.

"Take it."

Sparing an incredulous glance at the Mega, Kari studied the levitating item with increased misgivings.

GranDracmon chuckled. "Don't worry. It won't bite."

Sighing, Kari braced herself. If the Mega wanted her to take the thing, it was doubtful she could stop him. So, the teen slowly raised her right hand and began inching towards it, fully expecting it to do something unexpected—or perhaps even lethal—at any moment. However, when the tips of her fingers finally brushed the stone's surface, nothing happened beyond it falling into her outreached hand.

Looking into her palm, where the item now sat motionlessly, Kari barely glanced up as GranDracmon said, "It's called a Shard of Chaos. It doesn't do much, honestly, but its single known use is rather useful at times."

"And what's that?" Kari asked tentatively, her fingers barely cupping the shard; it was surprisingly heavy for its small size. Another little detail about the whole deal that sent small shivers down Kari's spine.

"It can destroy and reformat Digital artifacts," the demonic Mega replied conversationally. "You simply attempt to pierce an artifact with its tip, and both items will be destroyed: the target, and the Shard. The original target will then be reassembled, but…I'll leave that part a surprise. I believe you'll find it will come in handy at some point in time," he finished cryptically.

Finally, Kari closed her hand around the stone. "Thanks… I guess." She placed the shard in her pocket slowly, her mind nearly tripping over itself as it rapidly ran through her assessment of the situation.

GranDracmon laughed softly as he saw Kari open her mouth once, then close it. "You have a question?"

Kari bit her lip and nodded. "It's just…do you want us to stop the Demon Lords so you can take more power here in the Dark Area? Do you have some hidden agenda here that I'm not aware of?" she blurted out. She had a feeling that asking this was rather dangerous, but she couldn't help herself.

However, contrary to her expectations, GranDracmon nodded thoughtfully. "A valid question." After reaching for his crystal chalice yet again, the Mega said, "The absence of the seven Great Demon Lords will certainly open up many possibilities for those quick to take advantage of the fact… but I myself will profit only in the knowledge that the Dark Area has been 'freed up,' so to speak. Like any other world, the Dark Area is a pond with so many fish in it. Removing the Demon Lords allows some of the smaller fish an opportunity to grow and place their own claims on the land."

"But…" Kari began when GranDracmon fell silent, "you're not going to take advantage of that yourself?"

"Why would I?" The Mega shook his head. "I have enough already. For just one example, my realm is second in size only to Dragomon's, and _he_ controls the entire ocean. No, I shall allow others to reach for such positions as I have. And besides… even benevolent rulers tend to lose what they have when they make bids for more. Particularly when they have no reason to possess such excess," GranDracmon finished thoughtfully. After a moment of silence, he tilted his head. "You look confused."

Kari nodded again. "That sounds almost… unselfish." _'Aside from __being __pragmatic, as well…'_

"And what if it is?" the Mega responded dryly.

Taking this in with a blank face, Kari shook her head and mumbled, "Things keep getting turned on their heads…"

GranDracmon chuckled yet again. Holding up a finger, he then commented, "Perhaps I can guess the reason for your bewilderment." Raising his eyes to the grand mural on the ceiling, he ventured, "It seems that my motives are different from what you would expect. Is that it?"

"Yes…"

"And why is that?"

"Because… oh, because you're a _Dark Digimon_" Kari finally burst out, an irritated tone, born of stubborn confusion, touching on her words. Heaving a sigh, the teen continued, "Dark Digimon never work for the good of others, only themselves! They hoard power and deal out death and destruction… and they enjoy it!"

After allowing Kari to vent in this fashion, GranDracmon smiled wryly and merely questioned, "Have you ever judged an entire class of beings based on first impressions, or on the second-hand accounts of others?"

Kari winced. "Well, yes, but in over four years, I have yet to see the exception in this case! I mean… besides you, I guess… if you're actually telling me the truth…"

"I assure you, every word I have spoken to you is the truth, and I have left nothing out. There have been no half-truths, no misleading comments, nothing," GranDracmon stated firmly. And despite herself, Kari couldn't help but believe the Digimon. She wasn't so naïve as to trust the sincere air of a stranger—particularly one who could easily prove to be a guileful opponent—but something kept her from passing judgment at that moment.

Rumbling deep in his throat when Kari fell silent, GranDracmon finally said, "And yet, your perception of Dark Digimon is, in the majority of cases—at least with regards to those with power—sadly accurate."

Kari tilted her head. "And…?" she prompted.

GranDracmon's gaze returned once again to the mural above them. Several moments of silence passed before the Mega said, in that conversational tone, "Really, it is because of humans that such a distinction can be made, and with so little first-hand experience with Dark Digimon."

A surprised silence greeted this announcement.

Stroking his chin, GranDracmon continued, "You know that Digimon are made of data, and you also realize that human hopes and dreams are what gave us life to begin with. Can you give me an example of how humanity would have influenced the creation—in both physical form and attributes—of a Digimon like, say… Angewomon?" he suddenly asked.

Ignoring the obviously staged reference to her partner, Kari set her mind to work on the question as though a teacher from school had asked it. That seemed the only appropriate thing to do, under the circumstances.

"Well…" Kari began, "… I suppose… that Angewomon, in general, were created like they were because… humans knew about angels?" she finished lamely, not knowing what exactly to say.

"Yes," GranDracmon replied nonetheless, nodding. "Angels are an image that can constantly be found in the minds of human beings. You know that angels are the bringers of good tidings, the guardians of the weak, and the bearers of light. Thus, when Angel-type Digimon were created, it was from these images—from the thoughts, dreams, and literature of humanity—that their forms were first conceived. And now we have Angemon, Ophanimon, GuardiAngemon, and all their like."

"And when you meet an Angel-type Digimon," the Mega continued, "chances are, that Digimon is an embodiment of the virtues and powers normally attributed to angels. They are good, kind, and selfless."

"I guess so," Kari admitted, nodding.

GranDracmon half-smiled. "And this is my point. Digimon are unknowingly given life by humans, mostly according to the precepts and views of humanity. Angels are good, demons are bad, while both beasts and humanoids vary on this spectrum, depending on their appearance and cultural history."

"Now," the Mega continued in an even tone, "What do you think of Light? What is it?"

"Light?" Kari asked, puzzled.

"Yes, Light," GranDracmon confirmed, though he did not elaborate.

So, Kari was left to her own devices to devise an answer, which she didn't yet see as contributing to the previous thread of the conversation.

"Um… light is… well, it's what allows us to see. Colors are light…"

"Yes, yes," the Mega interjected, "but what about a _broader_ definition of Light?"

Somehow, Kari realized that the Digimon had figuratively capitalized the word 'Light.' Armed with this new prompt, the DigiDestined continued, "Light is… it's good. It's… virtuous and… gosh, this is hard…"

_'You'd think that having the Crest of Light would help me define it more clearly,' _Kari thought to herself dryly.

Finally coming up with a sound answer, the girl stated, "Light is everything that's good in the universe."

"Is it?" GranDracmon asked pointedly. However, before Kari could respond, he posed another question. "And what about Darkness?"

Again noting the inherent capitalization, Kari suppressed a shudder. "Darkness is the complete opposite of Light." Here, GranDracmon nodded and gestured for her to continue. "It's kind of… scary. And it's the power that all the evil Digimon we've ever met have used."

"Each of these points is true," GranDracmon confirmed. "Light and Darkness are polar opposites. All of your foes have used Darkness to strengthen them, because it is, after all, a very powerful force." After pausing, he added, "And yes, humans fear the Darkness in all its manifestations. Sometimes, more rightly than at others."

"And yet…" GranDracmon then stated before allowing a dramatic pause. "…your explanations are… incomplete. Can you think of why this is?"

Kari was at a loss, and it showed.

"It is because you fail to differentiate between different kinds of Light and Darkness."

For the nth time that day, Kari felt as though the ground she had been standing on had suddenly been removed from underneath her feet. "Wha…?"

GranDracmon twirled his fingers in a small circle, almost absently. "Think about it. When you speak of virtues, do you _see_ them? Are they solid _things_ that your eyes can perceive because they emit and reflect photons?"

"Well… no…"

"And when you think of all that is 'good in the universe,' are those things tangible or visible?"

"I… guess not. I mean, you really _can't_ see something like kindness or love, can you?"

"No," GranDracmon confirmed. "Which brings me that much closer to my point." Shifting his bulk slightly, the Mega queried, "Now… whenever you have fought powerful, evil Digimon in the past—take Devimon, or Myotismon and his various forms, for instance—what was different about the environment at the time?"

Kari narrowed her eyes slightly; these tangents were becoming rather numerous. "The environment?"

"Yes."

Growing slightly more unnerved as the conversation progressed, Kari slowly replied, "Well…when we fought Devimon, it got all gloomy and stormy… and it had been sunny right before that. It was the same way when we were fighting MaloMyotismon in the Digital World…"

"Yes, when the poor fool was covering the Real World in his 'eternal night'…" GranDracmon added, shaking his head while wearing a slight smile. "But," he then continued, "now that you think of it, what was the constant in all these situations, and those similar to them?"

The only real answer was "It got… dark?"

Even to Kari, it sounded like a pretty feeble reply.

"And what about some of those Digimon's stronger attacks?"

"...a lot of them were like shadows, but they still caused a lot of damage. MaloMyotismon's 'Screaming Darkness' comes to mind."

"Exactly," GranDracmon said with a satisfied smile. "Now, if we assume that, like good deeds, evil itself is invisible and intangible… then what is to stop the Darkness that feeds one's power—which you have seen as shadows that are expelled from one's body in the form of attacks—from being different from the darkness of one's heart, mind, and soul?"

Kari's right eye twitched as she tried to assemble the meaning of GranDracmon's words in her mind. Seeing her puzzlement, the demonic Mega began again, "Let me state it as simply as I can—which is no easy task, considering the subject." Again stroking his chin, he continued, "Think of Light and Darkness as being separated into two categories. One category consists of that elusive nature of good and evil, which man constantly ponders. You might call these subdivisions 'spiritual light' and 'spiritual darkness', if you are so inclined; regardless of their labels, they are the personifications of good and evil, respectively. This is little different from the view you have long held of Digimon, I believe."

Kari nodded mutely.

"But… the other category is what we are discussing." As though to heighten the drama of the moment, GranDracmon paused and studied the attentive DigiDestined carefully, noting the warring curiosity and wariness in her amber eyes.

When the silence had stretched so tight Kari thought it would snap, the Mega nodded and said, "Physical light. Physical darkness. These are what drive the universe's material pieces."

Blinking, Kari inquired, "What's the difference?"

Raising an eyebrow, GranDracmon retorted, "What do _you_ think is the answer to that question?"

Again forced to think of a response, Kari licked her lips in contemplation. She was growing more sure of herself in this dialogue, but she was also finding herself running out of ideas that might counter whatever GranDracmon had to say; things certainly seemed to be moving towards some single point, with the amount of building up this was taking.

"Physical light… is what actually allows us to see, like I said before. It's what reveals the world to us. But it's not… the light inside me?"

GranDracmon shook his head slowly. "No. What goodness and virtue that dwells within you is that 'spiritual light', if you will allow the use of this term." At Kari's assenting nod, the Mega continued, "Physical light, in contrast, is merely packets of photons—mass-less particles exhibiting the properties of both waves and particles—traveling through space, reflecting off matter and thus illuminating that matter." Receiving another nod of understanding, GranDracmon added, "Now, if Light and Darkness are polar opposites, as you yourself have already established, then physical darkness must be the absence of physical light. Thus, such darkness—however incomplete, due to other ambient light—is the shadow you cast on the ground when you stand in the radiance of the sun. Correct?"

"I… yes. I think I see what you mean."

"Good. As long as you keep _that_ particular image in your mind, the rest of what I have to say should make sense to you."

Kari nodded in response. She then realized that this was a gesture which she had repeated quite a few times in the last several minutes, and at this point, she wasn't quite sure what to make of that fact.

GranDracmon seemed to grow slightly excited—or, perhaps, just more _intense_—as he said, "To summarize, we have divided light and darkness into two separate classes. One is immaterial, and can only be found in the _thinking processes_ of sentient beings; this makes up the motives, the thoughts, and the resulting actions of these beings. In this singular case, light is good, and darkness is evil. Simple, yes?" Obviously not expecting a response, the Mega quickly proceeded, "In our other category, we have the physical elements. Light is both energy and matter, while darkness is the absence of energy or matter."

"Okay, I'm following you now," Kari admitted. This made things a little clearer. There was still so much left unanswered, though…

As though reading her mind, GranDracmon then said, "And here is where we reach the crux of the issue." Drawing a deep breath, as though speaking so much had left him short of wind, the Mega stated, "Ever since you were first exposed to Digimon, you have erroneously associated the powers of Darkness—which were used by your enemies, and which were also _PURELY PHYSICAL in their nature_—with evil. And thus, you, like your companions, have ignorantly limited yourself both in strength and knowledge by living and breathing by a supposition that is false by its incompleteness."

Kari stood there, stunned. Reaching the culmination of their dialogue in such a way that this Dark Digimon had bluntly claimed that her view of the world was flawed and so very _wrong_ about the _nature_ of the world left the girl with a blank, consuming feeling in the pit of her gut. She wasn't thinking about this intellectually at the moment, she was _feeling_ her moral supports assaulted by an alien logic that was using her past experiences against her. It was an incredibly disconcerting sensation.

Silence reigned in the great room, and the figures painted into the mural overhead seemed almost to stare at Kari with penetrating, challenging gazes. Their eyes seemed to burn, even in the monochromatic color scheme of the Dark Area.

The fact that the many glorious angels depicted had similar expressions did not lessen Kari's anxiety in the least.

"…can you prove it?"

The question brought a gentle, sincere smile to GranDracmon's face. Instead of boastfully declaring victory, in either words or tone, the Mega merely stated calmly, "Many Dark Digimon began their lives as those living 'in the light.' I can recite a list of hundreds of angels among their number. But the greatest atrocities that many of them committed were executed while they still held forms that shone like small suns when they wished it. Angels slew in cold blood, took without giving, allowed themselves to fall prey to—and even revel in—their lusts and ambitions. And throughout it all, they wielded Light to bolster their power."

"However, it is here where humanity comes into the equation."

Kari blinked slowly, hearkening back to an earlier part of their dialogue. "…is this the part where you explain how we humans have made so many Dark Digimon evil?"

Nodding, GranDracmon elaborated, "Human dreams and thoughts affect the possible forms of all Digimon, as I have already stated. Phoenixmon looks and behaves like a phoenix because that bird holds a place of importance in Egyptian mythology. And yet, such influences do not stop once a Digimon has come into creation. Higher forms on the Digivolution scale may be influenced by relationships with those previous to it, such as a line of wolves straight from Rookie to Mega… or an angel may Digivolve—even transform entirely—into a demon. The latter example is relevant because, truly, Digimon are linked with humanity throughout their lives. If such a drastic change in character or motives occurs within a being, then the outward form is also affected…_and this new form follows the basic outline that humanity unconsciously sets for it_."

"So…when a Digimon becomes evil… and because we humans almost always think of darkness as the… personification of evil… then the Digimon becomes Dark as a result? And it starts to look like a vampire, a scary beast, or something similar because we associate those with evil?"

_"Exactly!"_ GranDracmon stated, smiling broadly. "You understand."

"I guess so." Scrunching up her nose, Kari asked with a guarded tone, "But then, why are _you_ a Dark Digimon if you're not evil? Doesn't humanity affect you?"

Chuckling, GranDracmon said, "Two reasons for that. First, I am powerful enough that my personal identity is determined less by humans and more by… well, whatever else affects me. My own choices, for instance. And, as a matter of fact, this ties into my second point: if Light and Darkness—and here, I speak of the physical elements, as though they were little more than fire or water—are equal, opposing, and completely free from the moral restraints of good and evil, then why _shouldn't_ I be a Dark Digimon? If both good and evil beings can wield fire or swords, and Darkness is little different from those elements or tools, then why _shouldn't_ I choose Darkness?"

"…if you understand the true nature of Light and Darkness, then it becomes a matter of preference?"

"Essentially. Each element has its own strengths, weaknesses, and mysteries, and they are free to be explored by any wielder who chooses to specialize as such. Of course, such an arbitrary determination can only be made by an extremely powerful—or bizarre—being: you don't often find Digimon with an exclusive affinity for fire Digivolving or completely metamorphosing, intentionally or even not, into a form that wields water, and only water, with equal ease. More often than not, you are born with a path, and that is the path you must walk."

"…I feel like I'm taking your word for it."

"You still hold some doubt?" GranDracmon pondered this silently for a few moments. "…perhaps this is good; such inhibitions will keep you from straying down a path where you forget—willfully or not—the difference between the two kinds of Light and Darkness. If you confuse them, then you will fall prey to that spiritual darkness, which seeks to consume all things, unlike its physical counterpart, which only hides them. You must always be on your guard, especially when contemplating such matters, and then when acting on them. It is a double-edged sword: knowing the truth can strengthen or free you, but too little discretion in its use, or a misplaced blow…" He trailed off suggestively, and it wasn't difficult to guess how the sentence could end.

"However, if you desire more evidence of what I have said…consider Lucemon, the leader of the seven Great Demon Lords."

Kari winced. "Will we be fighting him?"

"In time, perhaps. But for you to understand, you must realize that Lucemon, in his current form, wields both light and darkness equally as his weapons. As an aside, such a combination is the truest expression of power in the physical universe, as it is a perfect balance. But to continue… all that Lucemon does is directed towards the undoing of all others but himself. He is as evil as Daemon was, and far more cunning." Kari shivered, and GranDracmon fixed her with a sympathetic look, but he nevertheless finished, "There is one small detail in this case that might prove important at some point. Darkness is… less resistant, shall we say, to the influences of power and base emotions such as hatred or desire. This is another reason why Darkness is used by so many beings who are evil. Darkness readily accepts those capable of wielding it, even more so than Light or even the lesser physical elements of water, air, and their like…"

"If I may make a prediction, based merely on conjecture… Lucemon may eventually shed his mutual alignment because of this fact, and become wholly Dark… both in form and mind, though this would lead to a relative weakening of his might."

GranDracmon fell silent and contemplated the DigiDestined, who was equally quiet. In fact, Kari felt herself slouching in fatigue. The Slivermon battle had already stressed her nerves, and now standing before GranDracmon at the conclusion of their lengthy conversation on such complicated material left her weak and tired.

Kari gave a long, hushed sigh. "You've given me a lot to think about… GranDracmon. I guess… I should thank you."

The Mega waved a hand dismissively. "On the contrary, my dear. _I_ should be thanking_ you_. I have not had the opportunity to engage a fellow being in such a discussion in so very long that I find myself reminiscing of fond times…" Smiling, GranDracmon placed a hand over his heart and bowed at the waist.

Kari half-smiled and gave a short bow in return. When she straightened, she felt a wave of weariness roll through her. When she began swaying on her feet, GranDracmon said, with a tone of self-reproach, "But now I must apologize. I have kept you overlong, and, doubtless, your friends are likely frantic. I can be greatly inconsiderate when my attention has been otherwise engaged. So, upon your word, I shall send you back to your friends, in the world where you were before."

"I appreciate that a lot. And… thank you for saving my life earlier."

As GranDracmon waved a hand, this time in a purposeful gesture, he replied, "Anytime at all, my dear. Although I doubt you will need any more assistance from me; you already have the Shard—" Here, Kari touched the outline of the curious stone in her pocket, "—and I believe I have equipped you with a knowledge that will make your life significantly easier from today onwards. Perhaps."

As the Mega spoke, an orb of pure Darkness—which Kari now regarded with a little less of the wariness she would previously have displayed—materialized and then expanded into view, a few feet away from the DigiDestined. It appeared like the cross-section of a large, elliptical egg, and the Darkness swirled into its center smoothly; it looked a little like a strange black hole disappearing into itself, but never losing its size.

At GranDracmon's confirming nod, Kari took a breath and—after sending an acknowledging glance at her host—stepped through the Darkness.

As the portal evaporated behind her, the Mega settled back into his cushion and sipped at the crimson liquid his chalice held. After smacking his lips thoughtfully, GranDracmon nodded in contentment.

All was well with the world… or, at least, soon would be.

XxXxX

/DigiWorld Alpha. Mikemon Treetop Village. 6:45 p.m./

Kazu leaned back and sighed in contentment; the visor-toting Tamer had just set aside a bowl which, up until a few moments ago, had been filled with a delicious, thick soup. Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, Kazu said aloud, "Boy, I haven't had a meal like that in… well, too long!"

Guilmon agreed with an enthusiastic belch. Patting his swollen stomach with one claw, the Rookie held up the other as he said, "I can't eat another bite! But it's so good, I wanna have some more later!"

"Thank you!" was the collective reply from the bouncy Mikemon. The little Champions appeared to have an endless supply of energy, and they were, apparently, pleased to put it to some use. In this case, they had whipped up a heaping meal for their visitors, complete with fried fish, soup, fresh spring water, and fried fish. Yes, they'd served two courses of fried fish.

With the meal finished, the Mikemon set about taking away the dishes. This exercise involved about ten of the felines, a catchy song about balls of yarn and sunbeams, an inordinate amount of giggling, and a number of close calls as several stacks of dishes nearly came crashing to the floor (along with their carriers). Kazu, Davis, and Mimi sat watching this with wide grins; it was practically dinner and a movie!

Outside, the storm had finally ceased, and a thick mist now veiled the forest. Visibility had been bad during the storm, but it was hardly any better now. Still, the tendrils of fog that explored the threshold of the kitchen hut added a relaxed, confined dimension to the atmosphere. Such a mood, however, wasn't restraining the Mikemon from having a rambunctiously good time.

Davis yawned widely before clasping his hands behind his head. "I don't know about you, but I could get used to this. All the Mikemon seem to want is for us to be comfortable."

"They're definitely friendly sorts, aren't they?" Mimi asked, smiling. "I wonder how often they have guests?" she mused, watching as one particular Mikemon managed to stumble into the kitchen while carrying a stack of dishes three times taller than the feline.

"Not often enough!" one of the Mikemon answered with a grin. The little Digimon twirled around on one foot several times before bounding off with a giggle.

Kazu chuckled. "They're all crazy, I think. I guess I would be, too, if I lived in a tree…"

The trio, plus Veemon and Palmon, sighed in satisfaction as they lounged around the table. Before long, they could hear a clanking sound coming from outside.

Into the hut stepped Guardromon, who was murmuring to himself, "If this weather doesn't relent, I'm afraid I'm going to rust!"

Kazu, while placing his feet on the table in a relaxed position, asked his partner, "So? How'd your delivery go?"

Shaking himself slightly, the Android replied dutifully, "Mission accomplished, Kazu. When I left, our companions had finished eating and were resting."

"And how's Rika?" Palmon asked concernedly.

"The Gatomon leader gave her a mixture of herbs in a tea, and then she said that Rika could be on her feet in no time." Tilting his bulky body in an expression of curiosity, the Champion continued, "She commented on not having the herbs sooner; she had to search the village's medicine stash herself before she found some older stock. Apparently, the Mikemon who was sent out to search for fresh herbs in the forest has not returned with them yet."

"He's probably gotten into some catnip!" a Mikemon with a dark splotch of color over her left eye exclaimed mischievously. The rest of the felines laughed loudly as they went about their business of clearing up.

Veemon tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Hey, Davish?"

"Yeah, buddy?"

"How come catnip doesn't do a thing for me when all the cats I know love it?"

Davis' eye twitched. "…probably because it's called _'__cat__nip__'_…"

"Oh…" Veemon breathed in understanding. "Then where can I find some V-nip?"

"Try the local convenience store. They've probably got something on hand," Kazu interjected wryly before Davis could respond. The gogglehead snorted at the Tamer's response before he hastily turned it into a cough; Davis' partner was looking a little too hopeful to burst his bubble right at that moment.

Clearing her throat, in an attempt to change the subject to something more relevant, Mimi said, glancing at her watch, "You know, I'm wondering if it would be a good idea to spend the night here in the village. I mean, it's already almost seven o'clock, and we have no idea how far the True Portal is from here."

Palmon and Guilmon nodded: the first did so because she agreed with the logic of having shelter overnight. The second concurred because he knew how quickly he'd become hungry again.

"All in favor?" Kazu asked, immediately raising his hand. The others' hands quickly shot up, and the Mikemon cheered. While some of them continued to put away dishes, the rest scrambled for a series of chests lined up against one of the hut's walls. In moments, yarn and bouncy balls were flying everywhere, while the otherworldly crew sat at the center of it all, grinning widely.

Davis laughed aloud as he seized a ball out of midair and then tossed it to one of the Mikemon; when the feline leapt into the air to catch it and landed on top of Guilmon—who was soon found at the bottom of a dog-pile as other Mikemon joined in—the gogglehead said, "You know, I can't think of a better place to stay than right here. Meaning 'not where Guilmon is sitting.'"

xxxxx

One particular Mikemon was not having such a good time. This Digimon was tediously working his way through the underbrush with a basket of herbs in paw, all the while grumbling to himself.

"'Mikemon, go get some fadeleaf and a few sprigs of goldthorn. And if you don't mind, I'd like some dreamfoil while you're out,'" the feline said aloud, mimicking Gatomon's tone. "'Oh, and try not to get too wet.' Bah!" Mikemon exclaimed bitterly. "It's practically a swamp out here, and it's sort of difficult not to get _soaking_, much less _wet_. Why did _I_ get drafted for this job? I could be having dinner right now, next to a warm fire and a big cushy rug…"

Sighing, Mikemon continued on, semi-pleased that he was finally heading home. As soon as he got back, he'd drop off these irritating herbs with Gatomon, then head to the kitchens. Chances were there'd be some fish left over, and Mikemon lipped his lips at the prospect of fried, spicy lake fish with just a hint of lemon and—

_SCHICK!_

Staring forward dumbly, Mikemon felt the basket slip from his paws. The feline's eyes slowly dropped, until he beheld a steely glint penetrating his chest.

"Oh…"

Mikemon slumped over, and knew no more.

XxXxX

/DigiWorld Delta. 7:05 p.m./

"…and that's what happened."

The group was silent as Kari finished her story. After nearly thirty minutes of frenzied searching, the Child of Light had suddenly reappeared before them in a cloud of darkness; when the darkness had faded, Kari had been forced to oblige the torrent of questions by explaining what had happened to her. And now, at the conclusion of the girl's speech, she was greeted with mixed reactions.

"I don't like this," T.K. and Gatomon said immediately, their voices overlapping. The two looked at each other for a moment before Gatomon continued, "I've known a lot of bad Digimon in my time, and I can tell you firsthand that you can't trust what someone says just because they have a silver tongue."

T.K. nodded. "My thoughts exactly. It sounds like he's got an agenda, and it looks like he's trying to rope you into it. And that Shard must be part of it."

Kari glanced down at the jagged stone that she held in her hand. She had shown it to the others early in their dialogue, but no one had recognized it. Now, it simply sat on her palm motionlessly… though the colored bands that were carved deep into its surface still seemed somewhat… alive.

Eric shook his head. "If there _is_ an agenda, then what good does giving Kari this rock do GranDracmon? What's to guarantee she won't just immediately throw it away and be done with it? If it's important, and if it were me handing it out, I'd try for a method that would place its well-being less in the hands of someone I'm trying to manipulate, and more into my own direct control."

"Unless that's the point," Velocimon interjected. "Maybe Kari _has_ to accept or use it of her own accord in order for its purpose to be accomplished."

"That's also a possibility," Eric conceded with a nod. "After all, the only thing we know about it is what GranDracmon himself said."

Henry absently fingered the cut on his cheek—now scabbed over with a thin crust of dark blood—with the side of his thumb as he said, "It's strange. Why give someone an item that can destroy Digital artifacts? And for that matter, what constitutes a Digital artifact?"

"I'm pretty sure our Digivices count," T.K. replied, eyeing the Shard with a suspicious eye.

"And what, Kari's going to turn around and suddenly steal one of them so she can destroy it?" Gatomon asked sarcastically.

"Gatomon's right," Dorumon commented. "That's way too obvious. Plus, she wouldn't do anything like that, right, Kari?"

"…hm? Oh, yeah… I mean, no, I wouldn't do that," Kari answered distantly. "That _does_ make me want to be sure I'm not walking around with my D-3 and the Shard in the same pocket, though," she added, still looking off into the distance.

T.K. raised an eyebrow. Placing a hand on her shoulder, the blond asked, "You okay?"

"Yeah," was the reply. "I just… I'm thinking about everything else that he said. About light and darkness…"

"That could easily be a ploy to distract you," Henry said thoughtfully. "It's a deep subject, and it's easy to get lost thinking about it. That could mean that you'd pay less attention to what else was going on."

Jeri bit her lip. "So, you think it could be a trick?" she asked worriedly.

Nearby, Leormon tilted an ear to listen to the girl's question before he sniffed dismissively and turned his attention back to a bird sitting in the tree above them.

Sparing a glance at the cub, Joe commented, "Are there any other possibilities? I mean, could GranDracmon actually believe what he was saying?"

The group fell silent as they pondered this question and shared questioning glances with each other. The humans were seated in a circle, while the Digimon formed a ring around them. Chasermon and Paladinmon stood a little to the side; both were listening to the conversation, but Chasermon seemed more interested in keeping a lookout.

At last, Ren finally said, "I think he's right."

The DigiDestined started, while Henry gave the Keeper a thoughtful look. Continuing, Ren said, "Can you find a way to prove him wrong, just off the top of your head? And even if you think about it for awhile, would that change anything?"

The Keeper's eyes, just as peculiarly colored as they had been earlier, were calm now, and the aggression she had displayed during the battle with the Slivermon had vanished. Now, she displayed only that mild, seemingly semi-interested expression yet again.

Eric nodded at his friend's words and added, "Fourth season of Digimon: Frontier. It'd take a while to explain the whole show, but each of the kids had these 'Spirits' that they used to transform into Digimon and fight. One of them used the Spirit of Darkness and, despite being brainwashed for more than half the season, he was a good guy." Sitting with his legs crossed beneath him and his sharp eyes visible in the tree's shade, the Keeper held an assertive air about him as he finished, "It's not a stretch. Not really. After all, your shadow isn't evil, is it? Neither is night, which would be perpetual darkness without the stars and the moon."

"Did you know that desert plants need periods of darkness in order to release the oxygen they've manufactured during the day?" Ren queried; her tone nearly suggested that she was simply stating an interesting, random factoid instead of contributing to the conversation.

T.K. sighed. "Okay, we've established the _possibility_ that GranDracmon was really telling the truth… at least, about 'the nature of the universe'."

"But that doesn't mean he was completely honest about the rest," Patamon added, finishing T.K.'s thought.

"True," Velocimon affirmed. Sighing, the raptor then asked, "What do you make of this, Paladinmon?"

The Ultimate considered the question carefully for a few moments before he replied, "The best thing to do now is, perhaps, for you to return home and get some rest. Doubtless, what will happen, will happen. You should be prepared, not only by searching for hidden agendas, but by restoring your strength. Otherwise, no amount of guesswork or conjecture will help you."

"…that sounds like a really good idea," Kari said, drawing a deep breath. Getting to her feet—and carefully tucking the Shard of Chaos back into her pocket—the DigiDestined asked wearily, "Where's the nearest terminal?"

"There's one not too far from here," Ren answered, gesturing into the distance. "A few minutes' walk, and we're there. We can link directly into my apartment from that point."

Also rising to her feet, Jeri said, "Then let's go. I might sound like Guilmon when I say this, but I'm really hungry…"

"It's past six thirty, so I'm not surprised," Joe commented. From his arms, Gomamon added, "Is it really? Then what are we waiting for? Let's hit the dinner table!"

"I'm with you!" Terriermon laughed, leaping onto Henry's shoulder. The Tamer rolled his eyes, but didn't comment.

As the group rose to its feet, Jeri sent a sidelong glance at Leormon, who was pointedly looking away with an indifferent expression. "And what are you going to do?" the girl asked, tilting her head.

"I'm going to head back to town; _that's_ what I'm going to do," the Rookie finally said. As the Digimon began to saunter away, he called out loudly, "This was fun and all, but I'm not too interested in sticking around with a bunch of humans who attract trouble like magnets. The next time I find some adventure, I'm going to do it myself. And I won't need anyone to save my skin, either."

Jeri, noticing the half-backwards glance Leormon covertly cast over his shoulder, watched the cub depart with a slight smile. Meanwhile, Paladinmon announced, "I believe that is our cue to take leave of your company, I am afraid." Bowing his head, the Ultimate said, "Remember, feel free to visit us tomorrow."

"We'll keep that in mind, thanks," Eric said, slipping his sunglasses back on. The light of the setting sun was beginning to cast reddish and golden tones on both the land and in the sky, and the Keeper's dark glasses reflected a small portion of this radiance in the form of a subdued, yet hard glint. "For now, though, we'd best be off."

Receiving an acknowledging nod from both Paladinmon and the ever silent Chasermon, the group set off with higher spirits than they'd been able to display for the last hour.

But Kari still held a contemplative air about her, even as they left the Digital World behind.

XxXxX

/DigiWorld Beta. _The Cat's Meow_. 7:07 p.m./

Impmon picked at one of his molars with a toothpick while enjoying the aftertaste of the prime steak he had just devoured. Similarly, the rest of the group lounged around several of the tables they had claimed in _The Kitty Kafé_; the meal they had just finished there had been, in a word, exquisite.

The best part of all was that the entire meal was going on Gamblermon's tab.

As such, the impish Rookie had enjoyed the food immensely. Some habits die hard: particularly Impmon's.

Casting his sharp eyes around the patio of the café, the Digimon noted that about a third of the tables were filled. Three of these tables were occupied by the humans and their fellow Digimon, while the other twenty accommodated an extensive mix of Digimon that Impmon had rarely seen in one place at any given time; the Tamers' Digital World was simply too barren and harsh for such communities to really thrive. In comparison, Digi Vegas was, if nothing else, diverse. Sort of like Tokyo, really.

Unlike Tokyo, however, Digi Vegas' streets were teeming with Digimon and only Digimon. From the patio's vantage point, Impmon could make out a hundred species represented in the ambling crowd below, and even more individuals of those species. It occurred to the Rookie, absently, that finding the True Portal in this city was probably going to be trickier than expected.

Frowning, the Rookie swung his feet beneath his seat a few times. The sooner they were able to leave this Digital World, the better. No offense to Gamblermon, whose company Impmon was able to appreciate in his own way, but the Portal was too important to be left undiscovered for long.

As Impmon chewed on the toothpick, he reached a decision. Standing, the imp said aloud, "I'm headin' out." Jumping down from his chair, the Rookie sent a pacifying glance at his bewildered companions. "I'm gonna explore the city a bit. See if I can catch a whiff of that Portal while I'm out."

In a brief burst of light, Beelzemon Blast Mode stood flexing his wings. With his Death Slinger momentarily dismissed, the Mega flicked his right hand upwards in a casual salute and shot a toothy grin at Ai before he took to the air. In moments, he was a dark shape flying above the streets.

Tai raised an eyebrow. "Well, that was abrupt."

Kenta shrugged. "It's his way. He's been a loner for a long time, and he still likes to get out on his own every now and then."

Ai nodded; she hadn't needed to say anything as her partner left. Such a snappy departure was a common occurrence with Impmon, and the Tamer had received his word countless times before that he'd both take care of himself and stay out of trouble.

Impmon, of course, always labored under the loophole of 'I'll avoid trouble when I can. No promises if it comes lookin' for me.'

Gamblermon shrugged. "Well, I doubt he'll run into trouble on his own. Despite the, ah, _lively_ atmosphere, Digi Vegas is a good place to be."

"Hence your being here?" Matt asked before draining his glass.

"Something like that, yes."

Sora chuckled. "Well, all I can say is, again, we're lucky to have met you out in the desert. If we hadn't, I doubt we would have had such a great meal or even gotten a nice place to stay."

"Chances probably would have been slim to none," Agumon asserted, licking his claws; the steak—very rare, of course—had really been a little messy. Tai shook his head regretfully at his partner's table manners.

As the former gogglehead reclined as much as he could in his chair, he said, "So… the tournament starts about nine."

"That's right," Gamblermon replied.

"Where is going to be?"

"_The Seventh Heaven_."

"Sounds like a nice place," Gabumon commented. The Rookie received a shrug in response.

"As I said, it's the largest casino in the city, and it's a reasonably respectable establishment… though I'm starting to wonder, considering where one of the prizes came from…"

Sora tilted her head inquisitively and asked, from the next table, "I've been wondering. What makes this item of yours valuable enough that someone would set it up as a reward in a card tournament?"

Gamblermon stroked his chin as he answered, "Well, you don't run into a bracelet like mine every day. Encrusted with jewels as big and bright as the noonday sun, delicate as a water lily, and stronger than iron. It's been said that to look into the center jewel is as to look into the window of your own soul…" The Digimon trailed off, looking into space. He idly tapped out a complicated rhythm against the iron-wrought table, seemingly lost to the rest of the world. Sora and Biyomon sighed in appreciation as they both cupped their chins in their hands; with elbows resting on the tabletop, the two looked as dreamy and relaxed as a pair of young kids sitting next to an old fishing pool in high summer.

"…a _bracelet?_" Kenta finally asked incredulously, apparently oblivious to the eloquent description that their companion had imparted. Sitting on the Tamer's shoulder, MarineAngemon chirruped in amusement as Sora and Biyomon shot his partner reproving looks.

"Yes, a bracelet," Gamblermon replied wryly, rolling his red eyes. "And before you think it, I never wear it; it's a keepsake of sorts." Being brought back to the present by Kenta's comment, the Demon Man cast his eyes over the party slyly as though prompting them to laugh at him.

"I'm sensing a story here," Matt said, half-grinning.

Gamblermon unexpectedly breathed a long sigh through his nose. "Quite a long one, in fact." The Ultimate's expression, usually so suave that it left one at ease just by looking at it, slipped enough to let a hint of veiled weariness show. Curiosity piqued, the group leaned in closer.

"…well. Why not?" Gamblermon said quietly, almost to himself. "It's been a long time since I really talked to anyone. Maybe telling a story will help put things in perspective. Even for me."

Drawing a breath, the Ultimate quirked a small smile. "Very well. It all started about three years ago. I was something of a ladies' man, as you might have guessed, but there was one darling in particular who captivated me, as you wouldn't believe…"

XxXxX

/DigiWorld Alpha. 7:30 p.m./

"You're doing pretty well," Gatomon said encouragingly as Rika hobbled along, supported by Renamon. "I remember when I was infected, years ago. Even after a day of bed rest, I still felt woozy just sitting up."

"Must be the herbs," Rika replied in a tired voice. Gatomon nodded in understanding; the Champion might have continued on in sympathetic silence, but Takato asked curiously, "You were sick with this, too?"

Gatomon nodded. "When I was a Salamon, a long time ago. And, if you ask me, I think that the infection was actually the reason I Digivolved into Gatomon instead of another Mikemon."

"How's that?" Mimi asked curiously; behind her, the rest of the group strained to hear the conversation through the thick mist. As pretty as the scenery was, a forest obscured by heavy fog started to look the same everywhere you went as you progressed, and talking was more interesting.

Gatomon shrugged. "Just a feeling, really. I'm the first Digimon from our village to _not_ become a Mikemon in years. That's one of the reasons I became the leader, actually. As for why I became a Gatomon in the first place…" Here, the Champion shrugged her small shoulders. "Life's funny sometimes. One little event is often enough to change the course of something routine."

"The Digital World _is_ made of data," Renamon supplied as the Champion continued to lead them through the forest. "As such, almost anything is possible." Shaking her head, the kitsune said, "But let's put this conversation on hold for a few moments. You said that this spring would help?" she asked, directing the question at Gatomon.

The feline nodded in response. "A few days after I was feeling better, I was wandering through the woods looking for mushrooms—the village leader didn't cut anyone any slack, so I was out doing chores almost as soon as I could walk again—and I stumbled onto this little spring in a valley not far from here. I was exhausted, so I sat down to rest a while, and lo and behold, when I started drinking the water…" Gatomon shrugged again. "The Digital World's a strange place. It'll give you a quirky little virus, and then it'll show you a natural vaccine that leaves you all better. Don't ask me why; I suppose it's just its nature."

"And that's where we're headed now?" Kazu queried. "This pond of yours?"

"She said it's a _spring_, Kazu," Rika supplied, shaking her head. "And she told us before we left, 'We're going somewhere where we can fix Rika.' Were you listening, or were you caught up in something more interesting?" Despite her choice of words, the Tamer's tone held no bite, just a weary amusement.

Amusement gotten at Kazu's expense, of course.

Kazu threw up his hands in exasperation. "Right. I give up."

Gatomon chuckled. "Actually, the spring _does_ feed a cute little pond. And yes, that's where we're going."

After this, the conversation quickly died out. The group was tired and their stomachs were full; naturally, this made a certain amount of sleepiness pervade the atmosphere between them all. Davis himself found his eyelids drooping, even as he walked up the incline of a small hill. Fighting back a yawn, the gogglehead said quietly to his partner, "Hey, Veemon?"

"Yeah?" Veemon's voice sounded equally drowsy.

"How do you think the others are doing?"

"…hmm…"

Unsatisfied with the murmured 'I'm-thinking' response, Davis continued, "I mean, do you think they've run into any trouble? Besides Rika getting sick all of a sudden, we've had it pretty easy. I'm just… wondering if the others would prefer to be standing in our shoes right now."

"Does it matter?" Veemon finally asked. "I mean, they _can't_ be in our shoes, can they? If they could, we'd probably all be able to go home. So… does that mean you're just worrying?"

Davis considered this for a few moments. "You know, I probably am. After all, there's no telling what's happened to them, or where they could be. Maybe…"

"Maybe what?"

"…ah, I don't know. I might be thinking about it too much."

"Time to get back to the present then, huh?" Palmon interjected, tossing a look over her shoulder. Davis nodded in confirmation.

"Yeah. And you know, come to think of it, I'm willing to bet that they're all fine. Maybe some of them have already found True Portals!"

"What would they do then, I wonder?" Takato asked, joining the conversation. "Wait around in the Abyss?"

Mimi shuddered. "Oh, that sounds like fun," she said sarcastically. "Floating through space with nothing beneath your feet… it's not a good feeling, and I've experienced it way too many times for my liking…"

"Please," Rika half-moaned, "I'm really not ready to think about that at the moment. Just hearing the word 'Abyss' is making my head spin…" The Tamer was starting to look a little green in the face, so the others quickly dropped the subject.

About ten minutes later, Gatomon pushed aside a massive fern growing between two trees. "Here we are."

The sound of trickling water gently tiptoed through the air, and as the party stepped into a small clearing, they were met with the sight of an emerald green pond resting motionlessly before them. On the far side, a tiny waterfall poured out a stream of water as clear as crystal, which fed the pool slowly as it slid down the slick rocks. The pool itself was closeted by the closely-growing trees around it, and the layer of mist whirling over its surface added a feeling of quiet wonder and mystery to the scene.

On the surface, Rika surveyed the still water impassively. Inside, however, a chord was struck. There was a tender, passive peace here that she hadn't felt in so many years that it was barely a memory. But now, she could nearly see it in front of her eyes; somehow, the abstract sentiment was personified in this little pond.

It was soothing in a way that she usually associated with the easy presence of her friends.

Slipping from Renamon's supportive grasp, the girl slowly stepped towards the water's edge. Oblivious to the curious stares of her companions, Rika knelt down on both knees and slid a slim hand beneath the pool's surface. Cupping her hand, she raised a small amount of water to shoulder height. As it trickled through her fingers, she watched the droplets fall back into their resting place.

No one moved as they watched Rika silently kneel by the water's edge. The atmosphere took on the feel of a private moment, and even Kazu's eyes flickered as they sought something else to look at. If asked, none could have said why they felt this. Renamon, however, watched her partner with a knowing gaze while Gatomon smiled slightly. The feline knew, somehow, that the girl had found something precious here, and it pleased her that _her_ little spring had seen fit to offer such a gift.

As the mist skated ever so slowly above the water, Rika stretched out her hand and, again, took a small amount of liquid in her cupped palm. Bringing it to her mouth, she paused… before sipping at the little that remained. Gravity pulled many beads of moisture back to the earth, but some slid past Rika's lips and into her mouth.

As the water trickled down her throat—like it had the waterfall at some point in the past—Rika stood. Without glancing back at the silent crew behind her, the Tamer slipped off her shoes and socks. She could feel her fingers tensing, flexing, and relaxing as they worked at her laces—strengthening all the while—but it wasn't enough.

She had the presence of mind to roll the bottoms of her jeans up to the knees before she stepped into the pool. Like the water she had drunk, the pool was brisk and clean, and the sensation of it sliding up her skin set Rika at ease. Wading out a few steps, the Tamer closed her eyes and just _listened_.

There was no audible breeze, though she could feel stray hairs brushing against her face. And yet, she could almost hear the mist itself move about her. Less than a whisper, it spoke in a smooth and comforting tone. And now that she _heard_ this, she could sense the mist against her body: clinging to her fingers, condensing in her hair, and swirling around her bare legs.

Rika sighed. As her body was renewed, her mind drifted to a warm and reassuring place.

XxXxX

/Barbamon's Mansion, the Dark Area. 7:45 p.m./

"How much longer?"

The question was asked in a low and even tone, and, at any other time, Barbamon would have felt a moment of pleasure that he was able to maintain such control over himself.

Wendigomon tossed his head before answering, "Less than eighteen hours. The rock has given way to clay."

"…good…"

The reply was whispered. Wendigomon's eyes narrowed upon hearing it: he could not tell if his master was truly pleased or not. Over the last few months, Barbamon had become impatient, but he had taken great care to hide this. Now…

Now Wendigomon was not sure when Barbamon would snap. It was nearly inevitable; that much was painfully obvious. As the hulking Champion bowed himself from the Demon Lord's presence, he noted the fact that Barbamon's gaze remained fixed on some invisible, distant point. The Demon Lord did not react as the Champion closed the door of the Mega's study behind him.

As Wendigomon made his way back to the cavern, he decided that it would be best, for all involved, if the diggers increased their pace. Speed was of the essence if anyone of them wished to keep their lives upon the fulfillment of Barbamon's obsession.

XxXxX

A/N: Looking glass, anyone? Or maybe you've got your own rabbit hole to Wonderland. Anyway, we're done with crazy chess people for now.

I hope you all enjoyed the dialogue between Kari and GranDracmon. If it left you unsure, and maybe a little confused (insert Beta laughing here), then I have accomplished my purpose. On this subject, I shall say no more…for the time being.

And that's all, folks. Don't forget to drop a friendly review.


	13. Lacerations

Disclaimer:

"…and thank you for joining us in yet another installment of 'Authors and Their Workplaces,'" says the pretty blonde girl speaking into her microphone. The viewers can't see it, but there's a rather smelly, unshaven guy holding the camera in front of her. Nolaquen, sadly, has an unhindered view of this poor loafer from next to the pretty blonde girl, whom we shall call 'Mary.'

Yes, Mary is a generic name and I used the grammatically correct 'whom.' Deal with it.

Mary turns to the roguish, ruggedly good-looking author. Nolaquen immediately turns on the charm.

"So, Nolaquen265, what's it like writing fanfiction? Where do you get your inspiration?"

"Please, Mary, call me Nolaquen," the author replies in a smooth saccharine voice.

Someone off-screen can be heard gagging. A muttered "Terriermon…" can also be heard.

"As for my work… well, sometimes it's as though the fics write themselves." Gesturing across the expansive, elaborate, Eden-esque gardens, Nolaquen continues, "Of course, in this environment, everything's easy. Let's walk as we talk."

So, the author, Mary, and the cameraman—who shall henceforth be known as 'Steve'— set off through a lush display of roses, orchids, shrubberies, and man-sized Venus Flytraps.

"I really enjoy writing. It's great fun, and it's also a fantastic way to get ideas across to people," Nolaquen says loftily, barely batting an eye as Steve is suddenly assaulted by several miniature Ents. "Guys, I know he smells like an orc, but he isn't. Anyway…"

The three beings—one of them looking a little worse for wear—pass through an archway and eventually reach the mansion's patio. "All my greatest work has been done here. Digital Realms—my personal favorite—and, uh…" Nolaquen stops as he ponders what other epics of surpassing quality he has written. "…yeah, my greatest work. Now, it's not all fun and games, of course. There's a _lot_ of work that goes into every chapter," the author continues. "I often toil long past midnight, through blood, sweat, and tears. I sometimes feel as if I'm transferring some part of my own vital life-force into the words I write down."

"That's beautiful," Mary says, smiling appreciatively.

"It is, isn't it?"

Nearby, Matt Ishida is on his hands and knees, scrubbing the patio's unforgiving stone with a wet scrub brush. "Welcome to Narcissism Lane," the DigiDestined grumbles just loudly enough to be heard by the camera. "Population: one. Serfs, on the other hand… oh, we've got plenty of those…"

"Ignore him. He's feeling just a little bit bitter after pulling the short straw. Lots of chores to be done around here, after all, and I can't do everything myself."

Leaving the disconsolate musician behind, the trio makes its way through the mansion.

"My inspiration…?" muses the author.

Pun fully intended.

"I'd have to say the original TV series of Digimon. To be more specific, the second and third seasons. I always wanted those stories continued, and, seeing as Toei had moved on to Frontier and Data Squad, I found myself in the position of delving into fanfiction to fill the gap in my soul. As it turns out, I ended up writing some myself."

"That's a common theme among many authors, in genres spanning most of the popular fictions," Mary comments.

"This is very true. I suppose, in that light, it's not surprising that I ended up putting my own hand to the plow. And here I am now, with a story of over one hundred and fifty thousand words. Brings a tear to my eye just thinking about it."

Steve looks a little teary, too. Or maybe it's just the pain. Ents are known to hit rather hard, after all, and his face, at the very least, is bruising up quite nicely…

Mary comes to a stop in front of a series of nondescript doors. "Where do these lead to?"

"Oh," Nolaquen replies easily, "these are the character's dressing rooms. They have to get all their makeup and costumes on before I start writing, and this is where they do that."

Mary tilts her head and raises an eyebrow. "What's that pounding noise? It's coming from that room," she says, pointing to a door labeled 'Mimi Tachikawa.'

Nolaquen frowns before shrugging dismissively. "Don't know. I'm not about to go barging in and ask, though. We have a scene scheduled for four o'clock."

Mary's eye twitches. "…did I just hear screaming?"

A bead of sweat suddenly materializes on the back of Nolaquen's head. "…pay no attention. It's probably Terriermon, pulling a prank. Or something."

"I thought Terriermon was outside with us earlier?"

"…no comment." The author smiles winningly.

Mary is undeterred.

"Why don't we take a look inside?"

"You know, I _really_ don't think that's a good idea."

"Oh, come on, you signed up for this. Just think of it as a spicy exposé."

"Now I _really, really _don't want you to open that door…"

"Suit yourself, but that's not going to stop me…" Mary walks toward the dressing room. Steve pans over just in time to see Nolaquen palm his face.

"Hello? Hell—" Mary suddenly shrieks in fear as she opens the door and a great furry, polka-dotted monster bares its dagger-like teeth at the blonde. From somewhere inside the dressing room, Mimi can be seen lying on the floor in a dead faint.

Nolaquen sighs. "I warned you…"

Mary spins around, slamming the door behind her. _"WHAT THE __HECK__ IS THAT THING?!!"_ she asks shrilly, losing her calm interviewer's tone.

"…that's Fluffy."

"…Fluffy?" is the incredulous response. Nolaquen shrugs sheepishly.

"You ever have one of those days where absolutely nothing comes out of your mouth the way it's supposed to? Well, we authors have days like that, too. It's called 'writer's block', and when you can't come up with something substantial, you find some _weird_ stuff dancing across the computer screen…"

A/N: Enough said here. Actually, though, I don't have a problem with writer's block. It's more the time it takes to write a whole chapter and get it revised.

The chapter title, 'Lacerations', is a somewhat obscure reference to Dostoevsky's _The Brothers Karamazov_. Sufficed to say, it's a set of circumstances that causes a great deal of confusion to a person—often with regards to personal identity or relationships with other people—and the person thus injures himself or others in an attempt to 'fix things.' At least, that's my take on it. We'll see some more of this as things progress.

XxXxX

**Chapter Thirteen:**** Lacerations**

XxXxX

/Ren Sato's Apartment, Tokyo Delta. 7:10 p.m./

"I see you haven't made any sweeping changes in décor since I was last here," Eric commented wryly as he and Velocimon materialized inside Ren's bedroom. Being the last two to arrive, they stood closest to the computer, which was seated on a simple wooden desk against a lightly colored blue wall; the walls displayed nothing but a window and a single framed photograph. As the pair glanced around at the assembled crew, the computer fell back to sleep behind them.

Ren shrugged. "No reason to change. It works just fine like it is."

"Same old Ren," Velocimon commented. "So utilitarian."

"If it works," the girl reiterated as she led the way into the hall; her bedroom hadn't been built to accommodate fourteen beings, even if half of them were small Digimon.

Joe raised an eyebrow as he glanced out a window at the end of the hall. "You live in a penthouse?" he asked curiously.

Dorumon nodded in response. "Ren's parents are pretty well off. They…"

The Rookie cut off and frowned as his nose twitched. Gatomon's own nose was scrunched up, as well, and she voiced her opinion rather bluntly.

"Is something… burning?"

Now the group witnessed something rather startling. Throughout the day—with the exception of T.K. and Henry's first meeting with the girl—Ren had been calm and almost unflappable in every way. But now, her eyes widened dramatically as she started in horrified understanding. As the blood fled from her slim face, the DigiDestined and Tamers feared the worst…

_"AAAAHHHH!!!__**DINNER!!!"**_

…only to facefault sheepishly.

In the flash of an eye, and a breeze later, Ren was gone from sight, having disappeared around the hallway's corner. Henry blinked and opened his mouth to ask a question, but this was apparently anticipated.

"She _does_ have her moments," Eric interjected matter-of-factly while wearing the smallest of fond smiles. Satisfied with this assertion—and somewhat relieved that the enigmatic girl had displayed some exaggeratedly dismayed emotion, given her usual reserve, if that word fit—Henry turned his open mouth into an amused grin.

From the top of his head, Terriermon giggled in appreciation. Jeri echoed the Rookie's mirth while Joe and T.K. settled for bemused glances traded between them. Even Kari, who had been silent for the past several minutes, cracked a small smile.

Velocimon sighed as he padded silently around the corner. "Best get in there, Eric. You know she'll burn something else if you don't."

"Right." After sharing a small wink with the otherworldly visitors—as though to convey the idea that Ren was perfectly capable on her own—the teen followed his partner, while the rest of the crew trailed him.

The living room of Ren's penthouse was spacious, and tastefully decorated in soft, muted colors and polished wood. On the left, a small foyer could be seen, with the apartment's front door standing closed and bolted. Conversely, a porch overlooking the bright city of Tokyo was visible through a sliding glass door; this door was draped with heavy red and golden fabrics that were temporarily tied back to both sides. Placed evenly across the living room itself was a pair of short leather couches, with an additional armchair set some distance from a widescreen TV. Judging from the dust accumulating on the remote sitting on a glass coffee table next to this chair, the TV had seen little use lately. To top off the cozy feel of the room, an electric fireplace sat flickering cheerfully against one of the walls, just to the right of the hallway that the group stepped out of.

And directly across the hall was the kitchen, separated from the living space by a bar-height partition. On the other side of this half-wall, Ren could be seen fanning away the smoke rising from a large appliance sitting on a countertop.

As the group partially dispersed around the living room—with Velocimon already settled contentedly on the single chair—Ren could be heard muttering, "An entire roast, wasted. Ah, I can't believe I forgot this was in. At five-thirty, this would have been perfect…"

"We were a little busy at that point, Ren, so you're forgiven for neglecting the food," Eric commented as he unzipped his black overcoat and hung it on a rack in the foyer. Now, the teen could be seen wearing a pair of dark blue jeans and a long sleeved shirt—seemingly made of cotton—of nearly the same color. Tucking his slender sunglasses into one of the trench coat's pockets, Eric then made his way into the kitchen.

As Ren began clearing away the disastrous remains of their prospective evening meal, she asked, "Feeling hungry, Dorumon? I'd appreciate the help over here…"

Dorumon's eyes narrowed. "No thank you. I'll have whatever you're having." The Rookie then flopped down onto a small cushion next to the fireplace; the glorified pillow seemed to have been placed there just for him.

"You may regret that. Velocimon?"

The raptor snorted as he closed his eyes lazily, soaking up the last of the sun's evening rays still shining through the glass door. "I'll pass. I may be hungry, but I'm not so far gone that I'll ruin my stomach walls with one of your culinary delights when it has passed the point of no return, with regards to its edibility."

"Suit yourself. It's just extra carbon, after all." Ren proceeded to begin feeding strips of the blackened roast to the garbage disposal in the kitchen sink.

"Carbon _charring_, Ren. That's kind of important in context." The tone Eric spoke with was suitably light—more so than the crew had heard since meeting the teen—and it had the feel of a long history of almost intimate banter. Ren responded with a flippant grin before returning to her task.

Jeri giggled behind her hand as she leaned over and whispered to Henry, "They sound pretty comfortable, don't they?"

Henry smirked and glanced over at his partner, who had fulfilled the neglected remote's dearest wishes by picking it up and beginning to flip through dozens of TV channels. Despite this demanding task, the dog-bunny managed to reply for his Tamer, "Sounds like they just got off their honeymoon. When do you think they'll start bickering like a married couple?"

Velocimon and Dorumon chortled at this, but Ren and Eric didn't respond—with more than intentionally blank looks directed at Henry. Said Tamer merely shrugged. "Sorry, I've tried controlling him. Doesn't work so well."

"You're forgiven, too," Ren said charitably with a face like a saint's.

"Touché."

Joe took this opportunity to frown in concern. "Hey, Henry, how about that cut?"

Henry frowned as he reflexively touched the wound on his face. "…doesn't feel too bad. I'd forgotten it was there." Sighing, the teen stood up from the couch. "I guess I'll start cleaning this up. Uh, Ren…?"

"Down the hall and to the left. If you need a first aid kit, there should be one under the sink," the Keeper replied; despite the attention she was apparently paying to the Tamer, she didn't take her eyes from the refrigerator that she was now searching.

"Thanks," Henry said as he set off. Joe followed him, leaving Gomamon to steal the Tamer's spot next to Jeri. Sighing happily at the softness of the leather upholstery, the aquatic Rookie squirmed about as he tried to find the most comfortable position.

Jeri giggled at the Digimon while Velocimon cracked a hazel eye open to observe his fellow Rookie. Snorting mildly, the raptor then settled back into a light doze.

T.K. raised an eyebrow as Eric pulled out a skillet from underneath a cupboard and set it on the stove. "You're cooking right now? It's late, and we've already discarded one meal…"

"Don't worry," Eric replied as he slapped a thin slab of butter into the pan; with the flames burning a hot blue underneath the metal, the butter began to melt and sizzle quickly. "We're old hats at this."

"Won't take more than a few minutes to whip something up," Ren finished while pulling out a carton of eggs and a jar of pickles from the fridge; with a light bump from her hip, the refrigerator's door was closed, and the girl set the ingredients onto the cleared countertop.

What followed was a flurry of surprisingly harmonized culinary action. The two Keepers were indeed 'old hats,' because, as the others watched with intrigued attention, the pair passed from one stage of food preparation to another with obvious ease and swiftness. And this skill didn't even include the coordination between the teens themselves.

While beating eggs in a bowl, Ren was also monitoring the slow boiling of a cold soup that Eric had—moments before—pulled from the fridge and set on another of the stove's four burners. As Eric stepped to the side to dice a series of pickles, Ren smoothly stepped in and poured the whipped eggs into the hot skillet; upon emptying the bowl, the girl handed the dish to Eric's waiting hand without so much as looking his way and began to sprinkle a pinch or two of cilantro into the skillet. As the girl did this, Eric proceeded to deftly dice a pair of tomatoes and onions with a sharp knife that seemed almost to leap into his hand from a wooden block on the side. Not long after this task was complete, the teen quickly walked around Ren, tossing the mix of red and white cubes into the eggs as he went; Ren immediately began stirring the eggs with a spatula that she had pulled from a drawer at some recent point. Leaving Ren to this job, Eric proceeded to set another pot on the stove next to the soup, and after waiting for the water within to come to a boil, he poured out a stream of instant noodles from a bag; obviously, dinner was going to be an affair of diverse servings.

And this was only part of what the pair set about preparing.

By the time Henry and Joe reappeared from the washroom—with Henry's cut now clean of black, crusted blood—Ren and Eric were in the final stages of setting dinner on the table. The small part of the living room adjacent to the kitchen that served as a dining area was neatly set with cutlery and crockery, and a pair of lit candles soon joined this assembly. The atmosphere imparted by this personal touch suitably impressed the DigiDestined and Tamers, as well as the Digimon. Before long, the whole group was seated evenly around the table, grinning in anticipation. Bowls of rice, noodles, soup, and cold fish sat at every place; each dish had been prepared with the same coordination and enviable speed that the Keepers had brought with them to the kitchen.

"Hope you don't mind the Western touch to the eggs," Eric commented, arranging a napkin in his lap. "I've been in the mood for salsa, lately."

"No problem!" was the chorused reply; the Keeper accepted this with a small grin.

"Well…" Ren began, taking the role of hostess, "…dig in!"

The Digimon gave a collective whoop as they did so. And the humans weren't far behind in their enthusiasm.

As Terriermon slurped several long strands of noodles in his soup, he said (through a full mouth, of course), "'at's a nice scratch, 'Enry." The Rookie then swallowed the whole mouthful, and promptly replaced it with more tantalizingly good food.

Henry shook his head at his partner's table manners, but he said (after swallowing, of course), "I think Jeri's right; it's probably going to become a big scar."

Joe shrugged. "It could have—Gomamon, slow down, or you'll start choking—as I was saying, it could have been worse. As it is, I don't think it caused any muscle or nerve damage. So you've pretty much just got a deep line running beneath and then behind your cheekbone." The eldest DigiDestined scowled slightly. "I'd hate to think of what might have happened if that Slivermon had gotten any closer."

"Well, it didn't," Patamon commented practically, "and it's not a problem now. Besides, it looks sort of distinguishing!"

"Like gray hair," Gomamon chortled as he scarfed down on both rice and fish; the Rookie wasn't discriminating between the victims of his ravenous hunger.

"Very nice, Gomamon," Henry replied, though he did run a finger over the injury speculatively. Then, the teen frowned. "What about you, Eric? You got hit in the chest and on the arm, didn't you?"

Eric chewed for a few more moments before he set his fork aside and pulled up the sleeve of his left arm. Two identical red lines, arching from his forearm towards his elbow, greeted the concerned eyes of the rest of the table. Shrugging dismissively, the Keeper let his sleeve fall back to his wrist. "They're not bad. I think Aethermon caught the worst of it." The Keeper sent an appreciative look at his partner, who ducked his head in an acknowledging nod before returning to his meal.

It escaped everyone's notice, except for Jeri's, that Velocimon had said nearly the same thing about himself just after the battle. Neither did the female Tamer miss the half-glance that Eric and his partner surreptitiously shared.

_'Huh…'_

T.K., having overlooked the exchange, rolled his eyes. "And you said you were 'barely scratched'…"

"What about your chest?" Kari asked, finally adding her voice to the dialogue.

Eric took a bite of rice before replying evenly, "I hardly feel a thing. I'll clean up after dinner."

"Turnabout is fair play," Ren suddenly interjected with another of her curious half-smiles. "Same old Eric. So stoic." The girl laced her fingers together and set her chin on them while fixing Eric with an indecipherable gaze of emerald and steel. Next to her, Dorumon paused in his feeding frenzy just long enough to draw attention to the fact.

Said stoic merely shrugged mutely in response and took some more rice from the center of the table with a wooden paddle. The DigiDestined and Tamers glanced at each other uneasily, sensing some past history coming into play; whether or not this was good was difficult to tell. Velocimon, however, caught their eyes and winked encouragingly.

Apparently, the Rookie was trying to convey the sentiment, 'Don't worry about it.' Ceding to the Digimon's experience with his partner and friends, the group settled back into a merry company, and they passed the time with a good many stories and jokes—many of these courtesy of both Gomamon and Terriermon, who seemed determined to put together some sort of dual comedian act.

And so it passed that, about a half hour later, the team could be found lounging around the living room with full bellies, watching as the sun disappeared behind the skyscrapers of Tokyo. While Ren and Jeri took charge of the dishes—and good lord were there a lot—the others lay sprawled across the couches or the floor: minus Eric, who was making good on his word and tending to his battle injuries.

Finally, Joe said aloud, "Today's been… weird."

Several of his companions chuckled quietly at this statement; it was entirely too true. Gatomon took up the conversation, saying slowly, "Azulongmon… Demon Lords… Alphamon… tournaments and Slivermon…"

"'Weird' almost isn't a good enough word anymore," Patamon added, shaking his head.

Henry gave a mirthless chuckle. "Yeah. We haven't been involved in something so crazy since D-Reaper…"

"Hey!" Jeri interjected from the kitchen, "At least we've found a safe harbor!" Ren smiled sincerely and nodded at this as she finished drying a bowl and placed it back into a cupboard.

"She's got a point," Dorumon said from his pillow; the Rookie's eyes were drooping as he spoke, but he managed to add, "At least you found us."

"And TV!" Terriermon added readily, having found an action-packed war film on a U.S. satellite channel.

Henry sighed, but he smiled in the general direction of his partner nonetheless. The Tamer then yawned widely, and he soon said, "Hey, what are doing are we doing about sleeping arrangements?"

Ren placed another dish back in its proper place as she said, "The girls can bunk in my room. You boys can work something out here in the living room."

"Dibs on the couch!" Patamon, Gomamon, and Terriermon instantly cried out in unison.

Eric, having stepped back into the living space just in time to hear these last few sentences, shared a helpless shrug with the other three boys. The Keeper said dryly, "Well, I don't know about you guys, but the carpet in front of the fire is mine."

Velocimon chuckled as he ousted Terriermon from the armchair—much to the Rookie's dismay—and sat himself down like a reptilian bird on a large nest.

"Gentlemen, stake your claims."

XxXxX

/DigiWorld Beta. 7:46 p.m./

Beelzemon's green eyes picked out countless details from among the crowd of Digimon, but nothing much attracted his attention. Money changed hands, beings poured in and out of various casinos, hotels, restaurants, and other miscellaneous business establishments, but nowhere did the Mega see something that looked even vaguely like a True Portal.

Then again… Alphamon had said that the portals could be anything, so Beelzemon really didn't have much to go off of. That was irritating, to say the least.

_'Hmph.__ Probably should'__ve taken Ai with me,'_ the Digimon lamented to himself. _'__Dat woulda __made __di__s search a lot easier.'_

Still… there was something relaxing about catching the updrafts above the city streets. After a long day of walking in the desert, this flight was a treat.

Beelzemon let out a contented sigh as his eyes lazily drifted over the masses beneath him. A Chrysalimon… boy, did _that_ bring back memories. Here was an Aruraumon, there a Mamemon, Quilinmon…

The Mega's eyes narrowed as he noticed a familiar silhouette lurking near the mouth of an alley. Within a moment, the figure disappeared from view.

_'Wait a sec…'_

Beelzemon swooped downwards, noticing as he did so that the street's inhabitants were giving the alley's entrance a wide berth. Several were casting furtive glances towards the narrow crack between two buildings, but they quickly walked on, leaving Beelzemon standing there alone.

Frowning, the Mega rested a clawed hand on the shotgun holstered at his left leg. Taking a short look around—again, noting the purposefully ignorant expressions of the Digimon passing by—he stepped into the alley.

He was met by the top half of a twitching Kazemon, lying half-propped against the alley wall. From the waist up, the Digimon was slowly disintegrating, and the Fairy was barely breathing. The rest of her was nowhere in sight; it was probably already gone.

At the sight of Beelzemon—standing just a few feet away, completely stunned at this macabre scene—the Kazemon gave a rattling gasp and tried to recoil. But this only caused the Digimon to stiffen in agony… and slowly slump against the unforgiving ground.

As the Kazemon fully dissipated, Beelzemon took a step back, his eyes wide in confusion and revulsion.

_'What… what happened?! And… __they__…'_ The Mega spun about, looking at the roiling crowd with a frightening expression. The few who met the riled Digimon's gaze shuddered and quickly continued on their way.

_'…__th__ey__ had to have noticed. I saw __the way the__y__ were looking over here__. And… __they__ didn't do a thing.'_

With a low growl, Beelzemon launched himself into the air, flapping his great, dark wings furiously.

His pleasure in the simple flight had soured, as had his opinion of DigiVegas.

But more importantly… he could sense that there was real trouble loose in the city. That made getting back to Ai and the others first priority.

xxxxx

A grim smile, all pointed teeth and sadistic leer, came to the Demon Lord's face. The shadows cast by the surrounding buildings could barely conceal the malice that the expression held.

"…this is going to be good."

A flick of his whip-like tail, and the Demon Lord vanished into smoke and shadow.

XxXxX

/DigiWorld Gamma. 7:42 p.m./

"Thanks for the meal, Keramon. We appreciate it," Yolei said, bowing her head slightly. Hawkmon mirrored this gesture at her side.

Keramon grinned. "Least I could do. Seeing as you're all so set on heading out tonight…" The Rookie shrugged helplessly.

Ryo nodded, also grinning slightly. "Well, it's been an adventure, but, somehow, the incentive to stay just isn't there. No offense, of course."

The jellyfish-like Digimon waved his hands. "Don't worry, I know the feeling. Still, even if it's a bit… bizarre around here on occasion, that just makes my living that much more profitable." Stroking his chin, he finished, "But really, it's been fun. I'm glad I had the opportunity to tag along."

"Likewise," was the general response.

The crew was standing on the outskirts of town, having recently vacated the restaurant where Mako, Cyberdramon, and Keramon had held their private riddling contest. Now, Keramon put a hand on his vending cart. As he turned to go, the Rookie paused. Then, swiveling on his tentacles, the Digimon fixed Mako with a wry grin.

"Mako… it's been a blast."

The young Tamer grinned and stuck out his hand. Keramon grasped the hand firmly and shook it once. Then, the sinuous Digimon set off, pushing his cart ahead of him.

As the Digimon left, Cody suddenly smacked his face. "Can't believe we almost forgot…" Raising his voice, the DigiDestined called out, "Hey, Keramon! How do we get to those portals you were talking about earlier, when we first met you here?"

Keramon glanced over his shoulder, a scant ten feet from them. "Just keep following the road south," the Rookie replied. "When you hit a big curve in the road, in the middle of a forest, keep heading straight into the trees. You should reach the springs early tomorrow afternoon if you don't get lost."

"And what about 'activating' them?" Ken asked.

"Throw a rock in the middle of the largest spring; that's your best bet!"

The group blinked. "It's that simple?" Hawkmon queried.

"Yep. At least, according to the information I've got." As the Rookie continued on his way, he finished, "But watch yourselves once you leave the road! You might find yourself in some dodgy territory; never know what'll happen down south!"

Cue sweatdrops.

"Typical," Armadillomon groaned. Keramon merely grinned widely and waved.

"Later, all!"

"Goodbye!" the crew shouted, waving back. Soon enough, Keramon and his cart were lost to sight, obscured by the dwindling crowd of Digimon still traveling the streets. Above, the sky was being cast into shades of molten bronze and crimson as the sun began to set; Ken noticed absently that this put the sun's course almost directly behind the Chessmon castle on the hill to the north.

Digital Worlds were so curious at times.

Finally, after the silence had stretched on for several pensive moments, Mako sighed. "Well… I guess this is it."

Ryo nodded, grinning. "Back to the great outdoors, eh?"

"I can't tell you what an improvement sleeping under the stars will be after sitting in that cell for hours on end…" Yolei said happily.

Izzy smiled. "It'll be just like old times in the Digital World."

"Complete with evil villain after our blood, right?" Cody said dryly.

Ken sighed in response, but he replied dutifully, "Looks that way, Cody."

Ryo shrugged. "Could be worse." Then, the Tamer frowned. "Drat. I said it, didn't I?"

"Yep," Mako confirmed, smirking. A little edgy laughter was had at the Legendary Tamer's expense as they set out, intent on finding their way home.

XxXxX

/Ren Sato's Apartment, Tokyo Delta. 8:02 p.m./

Kari stood on the small porch of Ren's apartment, gazing out at the vast Tokyo skyline. A million points of light glittered and flashed on the road and in windows everywhere the DigiDestined could see. It was hard to find someplace in the open where the radiance didn't reach.

Light…

Sighing forlornly, Kari's eyes drifted across the city. In her hands, the girl unconsciously cradled the Shard of Chaos, turning it over and over in her fingers. She noted the sharp edges without looking at them, feeling them press against and slide over her fingertips. Somehow, the sensation was reminiscent of the prickling thoughts she was mentally handling in the same fashion as the Shard. No longer tumbling in a thoughtless jumble, they were orderly and calm, but that didn't make them much more comfortable to ponder.

The grooves were easier on her fingers, and when she felt them, Kari could take momentary solace in her memories and her old ways of thinking. Light was good, and darkness was evil. Black and white… both metaphorically and literally.

But the smooth, glowing channels in the stone always passed, and the sharp angles always took their place. The cycle repeated itself… over… and over…

Kari sighed again as she looked down at the stone. Wordlessly, she clasped her hands underneath it, providing it more support in the air above the balcony's brick railing. Try as she might, however, and no matter her urging, she couldn't get the Shard to release its secrets to her.

Nor could she fully quell the troublesome squall occupying her mind.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

Kari started slightly, and turned to look behind her. Standing there was Ren, wearing an understanding smile and…

…silk. At least, that's what her pajamas looked like. Dusky blue silk, pressed and delicately sewn into two sheer garments that draped themselves over her slender figure, almost like fluttering water.

Kari noted, somewhat bemusedly, that the nightshirt just covered Ren's midriff, leaving her abdomen bare. It was as though she were wearing some modest—relatively speaking—dancer's outfit. It was almost something out of _The Arabian Nights_.

Ren's D-Platform was noticeable in its absence from her arm, though its hue would have complemented her clothes nicely.

Laughing aloud, Kari said, "I have to ask: how did the others react when you walked out in _that_?"

"T.K. and Henry turned red and started sputtering, and Joe had to close Gomamon's gaping mouth for him," Ren related, her smile widening a fraction as she leaned over the porch's railing and mirrored Kari's earlier overview of the city.

"What about Eric?" Kari asked slyly, quivering with suppressed giggles.

Ren shrugged a shoulder flippantly. "He's used to it. He just glanced up, smirked a little at Velocimon, and went back to the computer. Apparently, he found the U.S. weather report more exciting than my attire."

"I'm impressed," the DigiDestined said sincerely, half-inclined to feel jealous.

"With what?" Ren returned innocently. "Eric's control, or my pajamas?"

"Both, I guess."

The two girls shared a laugh before the Keeper fixed her companion with a steady gaze. "So. What's on your mind?"

Kari's smile faded a little, but, fortunately, most of that was due to the seriousness underlying the question.

"Well…" Drawing a deep breath through her nose, the DigiDestined turned her gaze back to the sprawling metropolis before them. "…I'm confused. And I don't know why it's bothering me so much, or why the knowledge could be so important that I need to sort it out."

Ren picked at the railing silently for a few moments. At last, when Kari had almost decided that the girl didn't intend to reply, the Keeper commented, as mildly as ever, "We're afraid of the dark. Since we were little kids, we've been afraid of the monsters lurking there. When someone—whose intentions you don't really know or understand—tells you that it's only the monsters themselves who you should fear, and not the environment they thrive in… well, you're entitled to a little confusion. We often consider them one and the same."

"That's a… simpler way to put it."

"I've had a while to think on it."

"Me too, and I'm still feeling lost."

Ren turned around so that she was facing the sliding glass door, placing her elbows on the sturdy brick rail behind her. As she watched Terriermon and Dorumon inside, both leaping about animatedly on one of the couches, the Keeper tilted her head. Her honey-toned hair hung just below her shoulder, swaying slightly in the nighttime breeze, while a few strands fell across her face.

"…I guess it's easier for me. And the others, by extension." Still watching as Henry finally seized his partner in the air in mid-bounce, Ren continued, "We've never run into a situation where there was such a clear distinction for us to become accustomed to."

Kari nodded slowly. "You said that you've never… done anything world shaking?" The term was new, but it described fairly well what Kari was experienced with, and what Ren was, by comparison, not.

A minute nod was her only response for a few moments. Then, Ren said quietly, "That's right. After all… we're the DigiDestined without a destiny to follow. The Tamers… without a duty."

For the first time, Ren's tone held a soft bitterness. It was nearly hidden by the bored monotone the Keeper spoke in, but Kari heard it and winced nonetheless. This was her first experience with any notable emotion that Ren had displayed, beyond her surprisingly feral battle persona.

It was strange, really, how serene and detached the girl could be, given this condition. Living such an extraordinary life without a visible purpose to that uniqueness surely rankled… but, judging from her usual even personality, the Keeper _did _have reliable emotional outlets.

Or… maybe not so reliable. That might explain her usual distant manner.

It also explained Ren's… intense reactions to life-threatening battle.

But before Kari could apologize for treading on an issue that was, doubtless, sensitive to the girl beside her, Ren turned her head and flashed a small smile.

"But hey. This isn't about me or Eric, is it? This is your story."

Kari smiled tiredly. "I guess so."

From inside the apartment, an exasperated exclamation of "Terriermon!" could clearly be heard. Kari's glance told her that the rabbit-dog had seized a couch cushion and was currently engaging Patamon and Gomamon in an impromptu pillow fight.

"…I can't wait to explain _this_ one to my parents," Ren said wryly.

"Looks like Velocimon's got it under control."

Indeed, it took little more than a hissing growl and a very pointed gaze from the previously dozing raptor to get Terriermon's attention. Henry's partner then decided to move on to safer recreation… namely, leaping onto Dorumon's back and calling out, "Hi ho, Dorumon!"

The other Rookie grinned widely before prancing about the living room, giving Velocimon a respectful distance. In other words, staying out of biting range.

"…so. Where were we?"

Kari laughed softly. "Something about monsters under the bed?"

"Ah. Yeah, that sounds right." Turning her back on the rambunctious duo of Digimon inside, Ren surveyed the Tokyo city lights pensively. "Well… when it comes down to it, what's the real problem?"

"You know, now that _that_ question's been asked… I don't really know." Kari began weaving the Shard through her fingers again as she thought. Keeping her fingers busy helped her mind run more freely, though the stone itself was still somewhat disconcerting.

"I think… maybe it's the idea that someone who lives—rules, even—in the Dark Ocean… _Area_, might actually want good things for other people. Me, my friends, other Digimon… it's so different from what I'm used to." Pondering this further, Kari continued, "And maybe I'm just uneasy that something I've found so simple has turned out to be more complicated than I thought. The fact that it's so far reaching a concept—light and darkness, and all of that—adds a little gravity to it, as well."

Ren half-smiled. "You see? You've pinned it down. Now you just have to reconcile things."

"How do I do that, though?" Kari broodingly watched the headlights of cars far below slowly navigate the many streets of Tokyo. "A part of my world just got turned upside down. How do I go about my life, trying to 'reconcile things'?"

Ren considered the DigiDestined silently. After several moments, the Keeper said simply, "Isn't it obvious? Just keep doing good, at all times, no matter what tools you have at your disposal. If you have light, then use light to help other beings. If not… how would that stop you?"

Straightening, and giving Kari a sideways glance, Ren concluded, "The ends don't always justify the means. But do you really know if this means is wrong?"

Kari smiled mirthlessly. "That's the whole question, isn't it?"

"…"

"…"

"…two halves of the same coin. Light and shadows. You can't have one without the other. A look at any part of the physical universe will tell you that." Ren took the few steps back to the sliding door. As she rested her hand on the handle, she half turned. "A coin. It's actually a good analogy for this. Money's a great servant."

The Keeper stepped inside and pulled the door closed, leaving Kari alone to complete the thought.

"…it's just a terrible master."

The DigiDestined took a deep breath of the nighttime air. She felt lighter now. She hadn't resolved this, of course—by no means. But now… she felt ready to put another step forward. Ready to fit the next piece of the puzzle into place.

Sparing a last glance at the Shard held loosely in her hand, Kari smiled thoughtfully and pocketed it, putting it out of mind.

She'd find an answer when it was time. For now, though… some sleep sounded really good.

If Terriermon stopped romping around the apartment, anyway.

XxXxX

/DigiWorld Alpha. 8:15 p.m./

Night had fallen. Or, at least, Davis guessed as much. It was hard to tell through the silvery mist, but it seemed a reasonable assumption. The visibility had actually improved a little as the airborne water vapor thinned in the cooling air, and every now and then, the gogglehead could almost make out a star through the hazy forest canopy.

It was peaceful here. Just walking through the trees, skirting half-buried boulders covered in thick, green moss, and listening to the muted footsteps of the whole team…

A guy could grow to love this. It made living in Tokyo seem so… unfulfilling. Hurry here, hurry there, all day, every day where the only real sights were man-made behemoths of stone, cement, or glass. But this forest… it was _alive_ in a wondrous way that a human city could rarely duplicate.

Davis shook himself. _'Huh. __That was poetic sounding. I wonder when I started thinking like __this?__'_

Upon his failure to find an answer to his self-posed question, the DigiDestined shrugged unconcernedly. _'Eh… I guess it's true, so what's it matter?'_

Glancing over his shoulder, the teen noted the silent procession behind him. Ever since the spring, no one had really had much to say. This was, possibly, due to the tranquil air that had settled about Rika; the girl hadn't spoken more than a single word in the past twenty minutes. Instead, she simply held a small, thoughtful smile and stared straight ahead with a gaze softer than any Davis had seen in Rika's eyes before now.

_'__I guess w__hat's good for the body__ really __is__ good for the soul,'_ Davis pondered.

Veemon seemed to be thinking the same thing.

"Davish? What do you think that water would have done for me?"

The gogglehead glanced at his partner. "Uh… well, it probably would have helped with that day-old sock smell that seems to be clinging to you."

Veemon tilted his head in confusion. "Huh?" Trying to answer his own question, the Rookie sniffed under his arm. "…I don't get it."

"Never mind, pal. Just remind me to stop sticking you in my backpack after school…"

The Dragon scratched his head as he asked, "I meant, would I be as happy as Rika is now?"

"You know… I don't know." Davis glanced back at Rika, who was now listening to some quiet comment of Renamon's. "I don't think she's exactly _happy_ right now. Just… peaceful."

Veemon frowned in confusion. "How does water help with that, anyway?"

Davis shrugged helplessly. "You got me, buddy. I'm just calling it as I see it. Doesn't mean I get it any more than you or anyone else does."

"Oh." Veemon remained silent for a few more moments before he asked, "But why do you _think_ there's such a big difference between who Rika was a little while ago, and who she is now?"

The gogglehead rubbed the back of his neck thoughtfully as he said, "I don't think she's a different person than she was. I think she's just… put something to rest, maybe. No clue what that might be, though."

"Oh."

The motley band trudged onward, falling again into companionable silence. Rika, feeling stronger than before, walked along the faint path easily, but was still content to let the others lead. She felt too comfortable with her calm mind and healing body to do more than absently trail Kazu and Mimi with Renamon at her side.

Speaking of Kazu and Mimi…

"So…" the DigiDestined began quietly, "what's it like being a Tamer? Since you obviously know all about us…"

Kazu turned his head and looked at the girl, slightly surprised; it wasn't exactly commonplace for pretty girls to initiate a non-necessary conversation with him. Still, Kazu Shioda wasn't about to leave a questioner without answers, especially about his hallowed profession.

"Well," Kazu started enthusiastically, "it's… um… really…"

Somehow, however, the prepared response that Kazu had ready for such a question didn't seem quite… sincere enough for this situation. Oh, it was great for impressing the masses and schoolfellows, but this was _Mimi Tachikawa_. She had to know better than anyone but the Tamers themselves about a life with Digimon. As such, a genuinely insightful response was called for.

So that begged the question: what was the real difference between the life of the DigiDestined and that of a Tamer? What was the _real_ answer that could satisfy Mimi's query?

Kazu ran a hand through his brown hair before replacing his visor. "I guess you could say that… it's sort of a passive thing, you know?" Normally, Kazu would have balked at saying such a thing—he'd never even thought it before—but now that he was looking to answer the question for himself, as well as for Mimi, he had to feel out the real nature of this part of his life.

"It's honestly not that exciting these days. But about three years ago, there were a lot of hostile Digimon coming into the Real World, and we'd just… ah, take care of them so they wouldn't cause any collateral damage or hurt people." No need to elaborate here, so Kazu hastened to continue, "Then, we wound up in the Digital World after a friend of ours—Calumon—was kidnapped by another Digimon. Turned out that this program had gone berserk and was starting to delete the Digital World and all the Digimon it came into contact with. Calumon's really special—he can help Digimon to Digivolve—so one of the Sovereigns wanted his help: voluntary or not."

Frowning contemplatively, Kazu said, "Well, we rescued Calumon and put Zhuqiaomon to rights… and that's when we found out about the program. You might have heard Takato or one of the others talking about it: D-Reaper. But anyway… after D-Reaper appeared in our world, we started fighting it. There were… some complications, but we fixed it all in the end."

"And then what?" Mimi asked, listening attentively.

Kazu blinked. Few people showed much interest in what he had to say, but Mimi seemed truly intrigued by their adventures… even though Kazu himself was speaking of them.

_'This is… an interesting __change__Being appreciated.__'_

_'…respected, even.'_

Putting aside these distracting thoughts, Kazu began again, "Our partners had to go back to the Digital World for awhile, right after our last battle. It was sort of unavoidable because of how we won… well, it's a long story, so I won't bore you. But… a few months later, they came back, and it was like old times, except without the crazy Digimon trying to attack us. Then, about two and a half years ago, this Locomon bio-emerged and started causing some mayhem along the railway, but we stopped that, too. After, of course, a hoard of Mega-level Parasimon invaded Tokyo."

Mimi blinked. "An army of Megas?"

Kazu shrugged. "Eh, they were pushovers. Guardromon blasted some of them to pieces without a problem, and Takato and the others did even more. Especially Takato." The Tamer smirked a little bit at the memory of Gallantmon Crimson Mode. "But after that… things got quiet. A few Digimon would appear every now and then, but Yamaki would just ask us to take care of them. Some of them wanted to see the Real World for a while, and then we helped them back home. A few ended up staying and finding homes; there are even five or so working with Hypnos right now. That's the government agency we work with, unofficially, and Yamaki's the head of it."

Mimi nodded appreciatively. Smiling, Kazu added, "We've had to fight Digimon, too, of course. They just wouldn't take no for an answer, in a lot of those cases. Our Digital World's a tough place to live, and the rule is definitely that of the strong."

"But yeah… that's been our life for the past three years."

Funny. It really _was_ sort of a passive way of life. Kazu could count the number of serious, dangerous encounters from the past two years, or so, on both hands. The rest of the time had been spent like normal teenagers did, with the exception of their partners' constant presence.

It was a realization that surprised Kazu, because he'd hardly considered the matter before.

_'Things have changed.__And… strangely enough…__ I'm actually satisfied with what __it's__ become. Even though it's hardly the grand adventure it used to be.__'_

_'…and I can't even bring myself to say that I must be going crazy.__ I… __guess __that __I've_ _changed, too.'_

Mimi smiled. "Wow. It sounds like you guys have been through a lot."

"…nothing compared to the DigiDestined," Kazu replied, bringing his attention back to their quiet conversation. Half-grinning, the Tamer said, "You guys were traveling the unknown Digital World from the beginning, with no idea what you were getting into. At least we had the whole Digimon franchise to start with and back us up. That sort of took a lot of the mystery and implausibility out of it." Shrugging, Kazu finished, "It was more of a dream come true than anything else. But now… I wonder which of us really gained the most?"

A little ways behind, the tips of Renamon's ears twitched, and an eyebrow rose in bemusement.

Next to Kazu, Mimi hummed thoughtfully and swished her ruffled skirt along the tops of her shoes. "I guess you could say that we DigiDestined found a treasure we didn't know existed. And you Tamers inherited something you didn't think was possible." After a little more skirt swishing, the girl ended pensively, "It's hard to say, isn't it?"

Kazu nodded in agreement. "It's like comparing apples and oranges. But you know what? The end result is still the greatest thing that's ever happened to us, isn't it?"

Mimi beamed and mirrored the Tamer's nod.

At the rear, Renamon instinctively checked the sky.

Nope. No signs of the Apocalypse yet. Still, if surprises like this kept up much longer, the kitsune knew where her money was going.

Pity that she'd never get to spend her winnings if the world really _did_ end.

XxXxX

/Ren Sato's Apartment, Tokyo Delta. 8:17 p.m./

Terriermon had at last settled down on the couch and was now dozing lightly, as were the other Digimon. Finally.

Jeri suppressed a giggle as her eyes drifted over to the Rookie's human partner. Snoring ever so lightly, Henry lay at the foot of the leather sofa; his head rested on the cushion that Terriermon had been using earlier in his pillow fight, and a light blanket was draped over his slumbering form.

"Good thing the carpet's soft," Jeri whispered to herself, smiling.

Nearby, Joe was just starting to nod off. Sitting against the side of the couch where Gomamon was perched, the elder DigiDestined might have looked uncomfortable were it not for his contented, somnolent expression.

Nodding her head in satisfaction, Jeri flicked the light switch on the wall. The lamps illuminating the living room dimmed, then faded completely, leaving only the fireplace's reddish glow behind.

That, and a small kitchen light still turned on.

Jeri blinked in surprise. She hadn't noticed Eric standing by one of the counters. The teen was motionless except for a faint tapping of fingers against the glass he held in one hand. With the kitchen light to his back, the reflected firelight set a minute flame in his eyes, which Jeri could just make out from where she stood.

Still… the reflection seemed veiled and darkened, somehow. As though the Keeper's eyes were absorbing the light, as well.

Biting her lip momentarily, Jeri walked over to the kitchen, careful not to disturb those sleeping around her. Dorumon, lying on his cushion all curled up… Velocimon, perched like a true raptor in the chair… and the DigiDestined's partners, each claiming a small section of the leather couches. Not to mention Henry and Joe slumbering on the mercifully soft floor.

As she stepped onto the kitchen tile, Jeri asked quietly, "Are you, er, going to bed soon?"

Eric nodded slowly, though his gaze never left the flickering electric fireplace.

Jeri regarded the teen curiously, intrigued by the deep air of reticence surrounding him. If there was one thing he and Ren had in common beyond their shared status as Keepers, it was a certain… distance. They possessed it in different degrees, and displayed it in different manners, but it was rather more noticeable here even than normal.

As though sensing the girl's scrutiny, Eric half-turned to face her. "Whenever I'm suddenly away from my own bed, I get a touch of insomnia." Gesturing with the glass in his hand, he added, "Warm milk helps."

"I see." That didn't quite explain his contemplative silence, though. And he seemed to notice.

"Just thinking about the day before I turn in. It's a custom of mine."

"…are you considering anything in particular?" The question might be impertinent, but…

"All of it, really. From beginning to end." Jeri almost missed the quiet chuckle. "That's the way I think."

"Oh."

"…"

Jeri didn't like awkward silences. It didn't fit well with her sympathetic nature.

"So, um… what's struck you most about today, then?"

"…isn't it obvious?"

Blushing in embarrassment, Jeri stammered, "I mean… well, besides us. What _else_ made this day something special?"

"…Slivermon. That one hardly bears repeating, but while we're on the subject…" Sipping from his glass, Eric's gaze returned to the electrically-birthed flames across the room. "So strange. That they'd come in such large numbers… and that they'd be weakened by it. It's such a foreign concept. Did they know, before they started fighting us?"

Jeri shivered as she thought of the battle earlier in the day. The eerie shrieks, more piercing and disturbing than nails dragged across a chalk board, rose once again in the Tamer's imagination.

Shaking her head firmly, she refocused on Eric as he murmured, half to himself, "Was there an intelligent agenda behind today's events? I've suspected for a long time that the Slivermon are smarter than they let on… but how would the intentional crippling of one of their own attack forces help them in any way? Was something else interfering with their connection?" Sighing almost soundlessly, the Keeper concluded, his eyelids half-closed, "And then, of course, there's that little revelation about their true nature."

With a sudden dry smile, which seemed to gather deep shadows about itself as it stretched across his face, Eric stated simply, "It's a lot to take in, in just one day."

His fingers began tapping out a slow, measured rhythm against his glass as his sight returned to the murky world of musing thoughts.

Next to him, Jeri considered the Keeper carefully. Somehow, she felt as though the teen was holding himself back, wrapping himself in a cloak of mental remoteness. Visibly occupied by his thoughts, one could hardly claim that he was paying any attention to the girl next to him.

And yet, from everything that Jeri had observed of the Keeper beside her… he was _always_ aware of his surroundings.

_'So why does he come off as so… aloof, but without the condescension you usually find in other people__ like that__?'_

"It's my curse."

Startled, Jeri sent a sharp look at Eric, who had turned a knowing hazel eye on her.

"Sorry. It's easy to tell what you're thinking. And I've had a lot of practice with that."

Jeri nodded slowly. "Okay. So… what do you mean, 'your curse?'"

Eric smiled minutely. "…at dinner. You noticed."

"That you were downplaying your injuries?"

"Yeah."

"…why?"

Eric stood silently for a moment before he drained the glass he held. "I knew it wasn't serious. Nothing today caused me any permanent damage, so… I made dinner a higher priority."

The Tamer blinked. "Just like that?"

"Just like that." The Keeper set his now empty glass in the sink and ran a little water from the faucet to fill it. "…it just didn't bother me. It never does."

"What about the pain? It had to have hurt."

"Sure; it hurt a little, for a while. But you know what? It wasn't a problem."

Slightly agape at this point, Jeri managed to say, "How can you be so… unconcerned? It hurt, but you didn't care?"

From the living room, Joe sniffed loudly as he shifted in his sleep, and the two teens fell silent, glancing over at him. When the DigiDestined had settled into a deeper slumber, Eric shook his head, finally looking the Tamer straight in the eyes. "It's not that I didn't care. I just… feel it differently than most."

The sharp, yet smooth contrast of green and gold in the teen's eyes added a subtle power to his words. "…I guess you could say that I'm built differently than you, or T.K., or even Ren. I… accept the pain for what it is: a warning that something's wrong with my body. And once I recognize it, I dismiss it. It's done its job, so I don't need to focus on it anymore. All that I need to worry about is the solution. And sometimes… fixing the problem can wait, when there are more important things to take care of."

Jeri looked at Eric with a trace of guarded interest. "Doesn't that… affect your personality, too?"

A gentle smirk, devoid of any distinguishable expression but that of tongue-in-cheek humor, arose on Eric's face. "Well… what do _you_ think?"

"…is that why you're so… stoic?"

Eric chuckled quietly. "My parents sometimes call me that. Some friends, too; that's what Ren was teasing me about at the table. But," he interjected, raising a slight eyebrow, "I'm not really a stoic. Or, if I were, the historical definition of the word would be more… _accurate_ than the present-day connotation. But if I had to state it more simply… I just see my negative emotions from an arm's reach away, like I do pain. Whether I consciously keep that distance or not, I don't even know; nor do I know _why_. I just do. As for my positive feelings…" Here, the teen chuckled aloud. "…I'm a real introvert. I just don't show much, except what I want to be seen. At least," he amended, "among those who barely know more about me than my name."

"…somehow, I guess that a lot of people don't understand that?"

Eric smiled more broadly than Jeri had seen before. Relatively speaking, of course.

"Hence my curse. Although, honestly, I can't blame other people for not understanding. I hardly get it myself, at times."

He paused.

"Ironically enough, though… _that_ doesn't bother me, either." The smile on his face was sincere and simple. Such a fact seemed like a reasonable way to sum up his temperament. But there had to be at least one external reason for this good cheer.

Jeri tilted her head. "You have some kind of support that keeps you strong."

It was more of a statement than a question.

A slow, appreciative nod answered her nonetheless. "Velocimon understands me almost better than I do myself. Ren and Dorumon aren't far behind; we've been familiar with each other for far too long for them to not get it." Smiling, he concluded, "Same goes for my parents, most of the time. And… that's all I really need."

Jeri scuffed the tips of her bare toes against the kitchen tiling thoughtfully. "I think _I _understand you a little better now." Furrowing her brow slightly, the girl then asked, "But what about _Ren_?"

Duly noting the emphasis on his friend's name, Eric quirked a small grin. "Ren and I have a lot in common. But if you're asking me why she is the way she is…" A quiet laugh punctuated this sentence.

Turning his gaze back to the fireplace, the Keeper shrugged helplessly. "Ren might understand me, but I don't think anyone really knows _her_ except for Ren Sato." Sighing, he finished, with another grin. "She's unique. That's the only way I can put it."

Jeri smiled at the admission. "That sounds like a good description."

Then, the Tamer's hand rose to stifle a reflexive yawn. "Mmm… I'm sorry, but I probably need to get some sleep." She held out her palms apologetically.

"No worries. I think it's about that time for me, too."

Nodding, Jeri turned and walked across the room. When she reached the hallway leading to Ren's bedroom, where the other girls were staying, she glanced back. True enough, Eric was already sprawling himself in front of the fireplace, his head cradled in his linked hands.

_'You meet some interesting people when you leave home,'_ Jeri mused as she exited the room, leaving the boys behind.

XxXxX

/DigiWorld Alpha. 8:28 p.m./

It started with a sliver of ice running down Guilmon's spine. Pupils instinctively shrinking into narrow slits, the Reptile stiffened as he took a deep whiff of the air through his sensitive nostrils.

_'Something's wrong…'_

A moment later, Renamon's ears twitched. Eyes narrowing, the kitsune barely noticed her yellow fur ruffling as the muscles underneath contracted in minute tremors.

A growl so low it was nearly inaudible to the humans broke from Guilmon's vocal cords.

_'Wrong, wrong, wrong… this is WRONG…__'_

Takato pulled up short, startled at the sudden change in his partner's disposition. "What's happening?"

The question was asked in an urgent tone; the Tamer knew far too well that Guilmon didn't react this way to anything but a major disaster in the making.

Davis, Mimi, and their partners stared at the reddish Digimon, bewildered. They had never seen Guilmon anything but cheerful and childishly innocent. To see such focused ferocity in his yellow eyes was enough to disabuse them of that notion fairly quickly.

Guilmon looked straight ahead, his tail flicking in quick, violent motions. "There's trouble nearby… and it's… _familiar_…"

Before anyone had a chance to comment on this unusual remark, Renamon's frown deepened.

"I smell smoke."

Gatomon started, her blue eyes widening. "Right now? After _that_ monsoon?!"

"…we need to hurry." Renamon's eyes narrowed further as she strained her senses; her tone and manner became cooler as her awareness reached out, towards the source of the smoke and… fear?

Yes. Definitely fear.

Takato turned a worried eye towards Rika as they began to run through the ferns and bushes littering their narrow path. "Are you going to be able to handle this?"

Rika nodded, her previous calmness giving way to a steady resolve. "I'll be fine."

"We'll have to wait and see what we're up against before you can say that for sure," Palmon said, frowning. The Rookie's leaf-like hair bounced steadily as her thick, stocky legs pounded against the ground. Palmon wasn't a distance runner, but the underscoring of urgency pushed the Digimon for all she was worth.

"Less talking, more running," Davis huffed, arms pumping furiously at his side. Veemon, at his side, nodded tersely as he kept pace with his partner.

It only took a minute for Gatomon to gasp in alarm. Renamon's manner had made the Champion suspicious, but now she was sure.

Whatever was happening was taking place in the Mikemon village.

_'WRONG, WRONG, WRONG…!'_

Guilmon's nostrils flared at the scents assaulting his nose. Dread, panic, pain, death…

…sadistic delight.

Snarling, Guilmon shot an information-laden glance at Takato. Swallowing, Takato nodded back.

No doubt about it. This was _bad_. Even without seeing for himself, the Tamer could already guess that this wasn't going to end well. Not at all.

Gatomon sprang to the head of the column, intent on saving her village from… what? Trembling as she ran, the feline realized that she didn't have a clue what was going on, but an ever growing weight of anguish was settling in her stomach.

The smoke was visible now, hanging weightlessly about the forest's greenery like a massive phantom wreath. Kazu noted morbidly that it looked like a darker version of the fog they had trudged through earlier… except that this haze was beginning to burn in the lungs. In addition, this smoke was no ethereal comforter.

This was a harbinger of destruction.

The clearing was suddenly dead ahead, maybe fifty feet away. Through the thickly grown trees, orange and yellow flickers could be seen through the smokescreen. Swallowing, Gatomon pushed onwards, darting around the slenderest of trees in her path. There had been a forest fire near here, once; started by lightning, the flames had spread rapidly, consuming the vegetation at a frightful speed. As a Salamon, Gatomon had been terrified of the fiercely burning flames. They had been too close for comfort, even from half a mile away.

This was worse. A sinister aura hung in the air, as thick as the smoke, and all the moisture had been sucked from the air itself by the malicious heat. And even before she entered the clearing, Gatomon knew. And she wept.

The trees on the far side were barely visible behind the roaring sheets of flame devouring them. Takato managed a single step into the small field before a tree house—the cafeteria where his friends had dined earlier that evening—tumbled to the ground in a heap of burning wreckage. The hut's remains were hardly even kindling to the inferno that reached upwards into the dark skies.

Gatomon stared, eyes wet and stinging.

"No…"

The only sounds to be heard were the rushing of air being drawn in by the blaze, the deafening snapping of the flames, and a series of sharp cracks as tree sap boiled and burst from their prison of wood and bark, splitting the trees asunder in an instant.

"No…!"

There were no signs of life. Nothing but fire and choking smoke endured within the center of the conflagration.

_"NOOOOO!!!"_

Takato stumbled at the sight of the roaring flames, which writhed furiously from the ground to the tops of the forty, fifty foot tall trees. The intense heat being radiated, even at a distance of nearly thirty yards, was enough to make the Tamer sweat profusely. "How… who…?"

This wasn't natural. That was obvious from the outset. The intensity of the afternoon storm, and the sheer amounts of water it had drowned the earth in, should have made it impossible for flames like this to come into being on their own.

More so, it should have been impossible for them to _grow_ like this on their own.

Gatomon took a trembling step forward, a paw stretched outward. "My… home. My… family… where are they?"

Blinded by tears, and oblivious to the concerned cries of the group behind her, Gatomon staggered forward, still reaching out for her lost friends…

The only warning was a slight rippling in the wall of flames near the largest tree, where the kitchen hut had once been located.

_SHICK!!!_

And then, Gatomon stopped moving. Her body impaled upon a silvery lance, she could only look up dumbly into her killer's leering yellow eyes.

Freezing in place, eyes wide in dismay, the group looked on helplessly as Gatomon slowly turned her head to look at them. Big blue orbs full of pain and sorrow alighted on them…

…then vanished in a cloud of disassociating particles.

ChaosGallantmon's shadowy profile, framed against the roaring inferno, turned ever so slightly in order to face the stunned onlookers.

"So…" the Dark Warrior mused smoothly, "who will avenge such a tragic, meaningless death?"

Struck dumb by their friend's sudden death, her killer's form, and the faux innocence of the Digimon's tone, the group could do little more than stare in empty shock. Mimi sank to her knees, eyes welling up, as ChaosGallantmon began to laugh: a long, slow, darkly mirthful laugh aimed to wound the heart.

Davis trembled as his astonishment quickly gave way to a rising tide of fury. Taking a forceful step forwards, and clenching his hand in a raised fist, the DigiDestined cried out wrathfully, _"__WHO THE __HELL__ DO YOU THINK YOU ARE__?!!"_

The Digimon's laughs faded into a snidely amused response. "ChaosGallantmon, at your service," the Dark Warrior said mockingly, half bowing over his lance, which he crossed over his chest. "Or… maybe not," he amended with a depraved glint in his sulfurous eyes.

This did nothing but antagonize Davis further.

_"AND HOW DOES __THAT__ GIVE YOU THE RIGHT TO DO… __**THIS?!!**__"_ the gogglehead bellowed, his tone dark with fury. Flinging out his arm vehemently, Davis pointed, with a trembling finger, to the burning forest at their side.

"Because, you poor, naïve little boy," ChaosGallantmon smirked condescendingly, "I am a being who possesses abundant power. Might… makes right. Thus, whatever I wish to do, I _can_, and _will_, if I so desire." Chuckling darkly, the Mega added, "It's a simple concept. Isn't it? Such _freedom_ it allows to those who of us who are able to live our lives to the fullest…"

Beside the shaking Davis, a baleful expression manifested itself on Takato's face. "That… is the worst perversion of justice that I've ever heard," the Tamer nearly growled, stepping forward with a feral, yet icy Guilmon at his side. Grasping his golden D-Arc in a vice-like grip, the teenager fixed ChaosGallantmon with a look that should have seared his flesh from his bones. "What _freedom_ did you give the Mikemon?! Or Gatomon?! NONE! YOU STOLE THEIR LIVES, AND EVERYTHING THAT WENT WITH THEM!!!"

Smirking, the Dark Warrior said, "Do you have a point? If you think I did something wrong, well… did I ever say that it _was_ wrong? This _is_ about me, after all, as it's _my_ choice."

"YOU DON'T GET TO DECIDE THAT!!!" Davis yelled, clenching his fists so tightly he could feel blood beginning to flow under his nails. "NO MATTER HOW STRONG YOU ARE, YOU CAN'T VIOLATE AND DESTROY OTHER BEINGS' LIVES FOR NO GOOD REASON!!!"

"I need a good reason?" ChaosGallantmon said in mock-surprise. Tilting his head in a distorted reflection of sincere consideration, the Mega then ventured, "How's this for a good reason? I didn't like the layout of the forest, so I decided to improve it. I chose to start by burning it to the ground." Smiling viciously behind his helmet's buffe, he concluded, "I think it'll look lovely after I've finished redecorating. Don't you?"

Davis snapped, with Takato and both of their partners right behind him. Screaming in rage, they abruptly became surrounded by the blinding radiance of Digivolution. A second later, Gallantmon and ExVeemon charged across the field, each with death clearly on their minds.

ChaosGallantmon laughed maniacally as he leapt backwards, swinging his lance in an opening flourish. "Ah… how I've hungered for a true battle. Killing those kittens was just _TOO EASY!!!"_

With a wordless roar, the Mega slammed against Gallantmon. Sparks flew as their two lances, nearly mirror images of each other, beat at each other with enough force to crumple a school bus into a dumpster. ExVeemon, momentarily regaining his wits at the sight of the clash of Megas, leapt into the air and circled around. Crossing his arms over his chest, the Champion cried out, "_Vee __Laser!"_

Flinging his arms outward, a beam of orange energy burst from the markings on the Champion's chest, lancing out towards ChaosGallantmon's back. However, the Mega merely grinned at Gallantmon before leaping to the side.

With a second to react, Gallantmon frowned fiercely and moved his Aegis shield to block the Champion's errant attack. Barely wincing from the collision of energy and metal, Gallantmon quickly followed his dark counterpart, leaving ExVeemon to growl at the uselessness of his attack and attempt to find another opening.

On the sidelines, the others finally pulled themselves together. Mimi, wiping tears from her eyes, gained a resolute look as she pulled her bright green-rimmed D-3 from her skirt's pocket. Kazu made to follow suit before wincing; Guardromon had yet to Digivolve back to his Ultimate level from so long ago. Then, frowning with resolve, the Tamer muttered to his partner, "Well, no time like the present to try, right?"

Guardromon nodded slowly, his eyes burning with that bright fire of righteous anger. "Now would be an excellent time, Kazu," the Champion affirmed.

Nodding in response, Kazu pulled a card from the deck in his other pocket. Lifting it to the level of his eyes, the Tamer's gaze narrowed. The desire to protect his friends and avenge the pointless deaths of ChaosGallantmon's victims rose like a wave in Kazu's chest, filling the teen with a sense of purpose he was unfamiliar with… but accepted gladly.

Closing his eyes, the Tamer sent all this emotion down his arm, through his fingers, and into the card, _willing_ it to transform and give him the power to make Guardromon stronger.

Kazu opened his eyes.

Nothing. It was just a regular, run-of-the-mill Modify Card. No blue aura surrounded it, nor did its appearance suddenly change into what Kazu had been hoping for.

As Palmon Digivolved into her Ultimate form of Lillymon and flew into the air, Kazu frowned in frustration. _'Why didn't it work? That HAD_ _to have been what it takes to get a Blue Card…'_

Kazu fumed silently for several moments before turning to his partner. "Listen, Guardromon," the Tamer said in a steady tone, "I'm thinking it'd be better if you hang back here with us. If that guy's not a Mega, I'll eat my visor. Even ExVeemon's going to have trouble out there."

"And thus, the duty of shielding you falls to me," Guardromon finished loftily, nodding, his eyes narrowed in determination.

"That about sums it up," Kazu said as he exchanged a confirming nod with Mimi and Davis, who was pausing for breath between vocal encouragement for his partner and insults at their enemy. "I don't really care for the idea of ending up as shish kebab, myself."

_'This is typical, though. We're stuck on the sidelines, looking in,'_ the Tamer lamented privately. _'But I don't want Guardromon __added to a mess in the making. We don't know how this is going to pan out, and, as much as I hate to say it, adding another__ low-level__ fighter could screw us up__ if this__ starts going south__.'_

Beside them, Rika turned to Renamon with hardened amethyst eyes. Sighing a very small sigh, the kitsune said, "Rika, I don't believe you can handle a Biomerge."

"…normally, I'd disagree with you. But, today of all days, I think you might be right in this case," the Tamer relented. Her eyes narrowing, she added, "But that doesn't mean you can't get in there and rough that jerk up."

The tiniest of smiles appeared on Renamon's face for an instant. As a Blue Card appeared in her Tamer's hand, Renamon rushed forward, transforming into Taomon as she went.

Frowning, Mimi murmured, "One Mega, two Ultimates, and two Champions…"

"With one Champion holding back in reserve as a guard," Rika quickly reminded the girl. Nodding, Mimi continued her musings.

"Against one Mega, that should be plenty, right? We obviously have the number advantage."

"That depends on how well Ultimates and Champions can battle against this guy. If they've got the power and stamina, then they can add a little momentum to our side, sure," Kazu answered as Rika opened her mouth. Blinking, the girl remained silent as her fellow Tamer continued, "But one problem is the way this is starting to turn out. Watch."

They did so with attentive gazes. And as they observed the battle in progress, it quickly became obvious what Kazu was talking about.

Gallantmon and ChaosGallantmon were like reflections of each other. No matter which way one moved, the other was able to counter and retaliate with a speed and power that left the other Digimon edgy about getting too close. The fight was becoming a duel with only two active participants. Whenever Taomon, Lillymon, or ExVeemon was prepared to deliver an attack of their own, ChaosGallantmon simply moved aside with blinding speed. As before, this usually left Gallantmon in the crosshairs of his allies' attacks.

However, it was also becoming obvious that these attacks weren't doing much even against the Warrior. The few times that the attacks slipped past Gallantmon's guard, they did little more than bounce off his white armor.

Lillymon's Flower Cannon was the only assault to successfully connect with the Dark Warrior they were facing, and its effects were just as minimal as it had been against Gallantmon.

In the meantime, both of the Megas were trading ferocious blows with each other, neither standing in one place for more than an instant as they physically clashed together. And yet, despite their mobility, neither seemed willing to give an inch to the other, in terms of the flow of the battle.

And still, the forest burned brightly.

Davis growled in irritation. "Those two are moving around too fast. If Gallantmon's not in the way, then ChaosGallantmon's already _out_ of the way."

"And even then," Rika added, wincing at the building temperature surrounding them, "that armor makes both of them tough targets. Which is good, in Gogglehead's case, of course, but _not_ with his stupid clone."

Guardromon spoke up. "They _do_ look quite a lot alike, don't they? Only the difference in color schemes or voices makes them truly identifiable from the other."

"Creepy. Where'd ChaosGallantmon come from, anyway?" Mimi wondered, her gaze hardening to an approximation of Rika's.

Kazu grunted noncommittally. Davis, however, answered, "Maybe we can beat the answer out of him." Upon the bland look he received from Rika, the gogglehead revised, "I mean, once we find his weak spot and start pummeling him."

"Weak spot…" Rika mused, fingering the deck of cards holstered on her belt. "Does _Gallantmon_ have a weak spot?"

In the middle of the field, the two combatants finally held their positions. Lances locked against each other in a battle of strength, the pair pushed against each other, resting their full weight on the balls of their feet. The ground beneath them, being baked dry by the heat of the nearby flames, crumbled and compressed into little furrows as each Digimon strained to force the other back.

ChaosGallantmon's eyes glittered wickedly. "You're not doing badly… for such a pale reflection."

Gritting his teeth, Gallantmon replied slowly, "_You're_… the reflection. In fact… you're just a shadow… with a really twisted sense of world order."

"But I'm… still… _STRONGER!"_ Pulling to the side suddenly, ChaosGallantmon reared back his massive shield, Gorgon, as Gallantmon stumbled forward, thrown off balance. Bashing the silver and dark gray shield into the back of the Warrior's head, ChaosGallantmon leapt back as his opponent crashed into the ground with a cry of pain.

_"Vee Laser!"_

_"Talisman of Light!"_

_"Flower Cannon!"_

The three attacks struck the viral Mega from behind and issued a cloud of billowing smoke upon their impact. A moment later, however, the Dark Digimon leapt high into the air, laughing loudly.

"If you wanted to play, all you had to do was ask politely!" Pointing his lance, Balmunc, into the smoky night sky, ChaosGallantmon yelled, _"Demon's Disaster!"_

The attack was a distorted version of Gallantmon's signature move. A sickly blue arrowhead of energy tipped the stream of silver that emerged from the tip of the Mega's lance. The attack shot downwards, focusing on Lillymon.

Eyes widening in worry, the Ultimate twisted in midair with the aid of her fairy-like wings, but the pressure wave of the energy beam was enough to throw the Digimon back to the ground, where she slid across the ashes in a heap.

"Ow…" Lillymon moaned as she hit the earth. "I'm going to feel _that_ in the morning…"

ExVeemon roared in challenge as he suddenly appeared behind ChaosGallantmon. "HOW ABOUT THIS?!" the Champion shouted as he reared back a fist. With a cry of _"Ex__Vee Punch!__"_, the Mythical Dragon smashed the side of ChaosGallantmon's helmet, leaving a small dent in the dark silver metal.

Slowly, the Mega turned his head and looked ExVeemon straight in the eye.

"Ouch."

With a motion faster than lightning, ChaosGallantmon returned the Champion's gesture with the side of his rounded lance… using about three times the force of ExVeemon's punch. Yelping in pain and clutching his skull, the Digimon tumbled to earth.

_"RRRRAAAAAHHHHGGGGG!!!"_

"What—?"

Gallantmon had seized the opportunity afforded by his friends' distraction. Rearing back his lance, Gram, the Warrior called out in an authoritative tone, _"LIGHTNING JOUST!"_

Snarling in displeasure for the first time, ChaosGallantmon brought Gorgon to bear. Floating in midair, the Mega had no traction to keep himself from being pushed skyward by the energy attack, but he could shield himself for the time being.

As he began his upwards ascent, the Dark Warrior's eyes widened as he sensed a presence behind him. Throwing a half-glance over his shoulder, the Dark Digimon growled as Taomon finished tracing a Japanese kanji in midair.

_"Talisman of Light!"_

The kanji burst into brilliant light, and the focused rays it emitted blasted against ChaosGallantmon's back.

Caught between two attacks of steady, substantial power, ChaosGallantmon bellowed in quickly mounting anger as he felt himself being pressed against from two opposite directions. It was not a pleasant sensation.

When the attacks cut off, ChaosGallantmon slowly descended to the ground, his expression unreadable from the darkness of his helmet. The other Digimon took up a perimeter around him, enclosing the Dark Warrior in a loose circle.

When the Mega lightly touched down, he—to the surprise of his opponents—dismissed his great shield, revealing his hand. Reaching behind him, the Mega pulled at the fabric of his blue cape until he could look down at it.

The material was smoking and sooty, and filled with a number of tattered holes. Through these tears in the cloth, crimson flames were clearly visible dancing in the nearby trees, serving as a grim reminder of the dying environment in which the Digimon fought.

Shaking his head mournfully, ChaosGallantmon let the cape fall back behind him before he lifted his index finger.

"Tut, tut, tut."

With each word he spoke, the Mega shook his finger back and forth scoldingly.

And then he raised his lance.

_"Demon's Disaster."_

The spear of silvery energy shot through the air between ExVeemon and Lillymon, missing them entirely…

…but the attack was, in fact, dead on.

Rika's eyes widened. "Oh, _SH—!_"

The Tamer cut off abruptly as she was seized by Guardromon and practically thrown to the side. In the same motion, the Mechanical Champion grabbed Kazu in his other hand and flung himself to the side. With Davis already on the trio's right, mostly out of harm's reach, this left Mimi to her own devices.

Diving to the side, the girl managed to put about five feet between her and ChaosGallantmon's attack. Now, if this had taken place in a wide open field, it would have ended perfectly fine. However, the group on the battle's margins was placed just a few feet away from the clearing's tree line. This meant that the attack had something to collide with just a yard or so from Mimi's back.

Two slim trees near the front exploded immediately, and those around them spontaneously caught fire in the backlash of released energy. The problem, however, was the trees which flew apart in that first moment.

In an instant, a small cloud of wooden splinters—the largest hardly any bigger than a centimeter long—flashed through the air, propelled by the force of the exploding trees from which they had originated from.

Mimi shrieked in pain as a dozen points on the side of her face and neck suddenly seized her attention by way of anguished, screaming nerve endings. Blood peppering her skin, the DigiDestined gasped deeply as the initial pain quickly faded into a throbbing sting. Flinching from her own reflexive touch, Mimi glanced up, catching a glimpse of some twisted amusement dancing in ChaosGallantmon's eyes.

_"MIMI!"_ Lillymon cried anxiously, immediately flying over to her fallen partner.

_"NO!"_ Gallantmon shouted in Takato's voice, _"DON'T LET HIM OUT OF YOUR SIGHTS!"_

Too little, too late.

ChaosGallantmon, in a blur of motion, was suddenly above Lillymon, who was ever so leisurely—to the Mega's eyes—turning around to face the threat.

"Too slow."

Lillymon yelped as Balmunc slammed across her spine, sending the Ultimate face-first into the hard earth.

_"Lillymon!"_ Mimi called out in alarm, eyes widening and pain forgotten as ChaosGallantmon stood over the fallen Ultimate.

The Dark Warrior, for his part, shook his head in an expression that might have been supposed to convey a sense of bemusement. "I won't make the mistake of questioning why a Digimon would want to partner with a human. Any fool should be able to see that such a union imparts great strength." With a hidden smile, which held a feral glee that would have made Guilmon shudder even in his worst mood, the Mega then added, "But I _must_ ask: what good does that do you when you're so easily distracted?"

_"AND WHAT GOOD DOES YOUR MONOLOGUING DO __YOU__?!!"_ Gallantmon nearly screamed as he ran forwards, swinging Gram through a wide arc that was intended to connect with the Mega's chest and knock the Dark Digimon away.

ChaosGallantmon leapt backwards nimbly, avoiding the attack in full and leaving Lillymon to struggle to her feet while Gallantmon, bristling, stood over her protectively.

"Point taken. I'll avoid that mistake in the future, and simply finish you off quickly." Re-summoning Gorgon to his left arm, the Dark Warrior smirked as he heckled, "Of course, I just wanted to see how you reacted to such a clichéd villain's gaffe. Do you think I'd make such an error so thoughtlessly?"

Takato's half of Gallantmon let a whispered curse pass through his lips. Had his mother been there, she would have promptly washed his mouth out with soap. Her son, however, was too busy and just plain _incensed_ to let such inhibitions restrain him at the moment.

_'He's playing around, with no regard for anything but himself,'_ Takato seethed to Guilmon.

_'And he's dangerous enough to back up his boasting,' _the Digimon replied with a low growl. _'We have to end this soon, or the others will be put into worse danger.'_

Breathing deeply in an attempt to calm himself, Takato commented, _'Even without ChaosGallantmon—__'_ The Tamer nearly spat the name. _'—this forest is going up like a box of matches soaked in oil. If we don't get out of this area soon, we're all going to be burned to a crisp. If I could sweat right now, I would be.'_

And it was obvious that the humans on the sidelines _were_ sweating. Far too heavily for Takato's liking.

A heated glare caught ChaosGallantmon's attention. "I don't know what your deal is," Takato said in a low tone, "or why you enjoy this so much. But I _do _know that, if you're really as twisted and evil as you've shown us so far, then only one of us is walking out of here alive."

"Is _this_ justice, then?" the Dark Warrior retorted. "You so readily condemn me, while I maintain my right to do as I please… _my_ justice." Shrugging, the Mega mused, "That's too bad, considering we'll end up resolving this by my standards. By strength." Eyes glittering with malice, the Dark Digimon asked rhetorically, "Doesn't that make you a hypocrite?"

_"ENOUGH!"_ Taking a firm step forward, Gallantmon challenged in his echoing, dual voice, "If you really believe that turning a tool into the determining factor of life is so great, subverting all justice and morality in the process, then why don't we face the consequences and _see how we both end up?!!"_

With a battle cry fiercer than any Takato or Guilmon could remember uttering in ages, Gallantmon charged forward, his golden eyes blazing.

ChaosGallantmon took a moment to look into those powerful eyes before he smiled darkly. "Yes. Yes, let's what happens when we and our ideals collide. I look forward to the results, and then standing over your corpse."

The world seemed to tremble as the titans met.

XxXxX

/DigiWorld Gamma. 8:52 p.m./

"I think this is a good place to stop," Ryo said, looking around decidedly at the tiny field in the middle of the forest.

"We left the road a ways back," Yolei replied, nodding. "Now's a good a time as any, I guess."

As Mako flopped down next to a tree with smooth, yet curiously swirl-filled bark, he added, "And I'm bushed. Everyone else in favor?"

A chorus of tired 'aye's sealed the deal. As the group began to settle themselves down around the large, table-like stone in the center of their resting place, Ryo quickly set about building a fire. Although there had never been much real need of such a campfire in his home DigiWorld—where food, warmth, and even air were not needed if one didn't believe them necessary—the skill had somehow found its way into the Legendary Tamer's repertoire of skills. It might have been a nostalgic touch of home, or a simple enjoyment of the flickering light that held back the encroaching darkness of night, but a fire simply seemed to set such a venture right.

Regardless, there was soon a fine blaze going on one side of the great slab of black rock, and the crew clustered around it gratefully. The clearing was small enough that there was only a few feet between the fire itself and the trees—as well as the natural stonework on the other side—but Ryo somehow found himself appreciating the closeness of it all. It felt more like a large room than a clearing in the woods. Add that to the skylight of stars between the treetops above, and the setting was very peaceful indeed.

Sighing contentedly, the Tamer leaned back on the grass and closed his eyes. Next to him, Cyberdramon sat upright with his legs crossed, soaking up the heat of the fire as he stared into the flames impassively.

Nearby, Cody set his chin in his hands as he braced his elbows on his knees. "What a journey this is turning out to be…" the young DigiDestined mused.

Armadillomon nodded, grinning slightly. "It's almost like when we first became partners. We got thrown into something that we weren't quite prepared for, but we ended up just fine anyway."

Cody smiled lightly. "I guess it _does_ remind me a little of the past. Although I'm more inclined to say that it's a very unique experience."

"It's not often you find alternate versions of Earth or the Digital World," Tentomon commented from Izzy's side.

Nodding, the redheaded genius added, "That's true. Just think of everything we've discovered today."

"Productive, was it?" Hawkmon quipped.

"That, and enlightening," Izzy replied with a smile.

"Not to mention exciting," Mako interjected as he joined the lazy conversation. "This is the first big adventure I've ever been on." After a moment, he added in a slightly subdued tone, "That goes for Ai, too, actually…"

Ken turned his head. "Don't worry; whoever she's with, I'm sure she's doing fine."

"Yeah, but Impmon's probably with her! That means that I can't help in any of these big fights!"

The others sweatdropped slightly at Mako's disappointed tone.

Hawkmon leaned over to Tentomon and whispered, "Were we ever that eager to fight?"

"I think that was mostly Davis and Veemon," the insectoid replied quietly, rubbing his head with a forelimb. "Although, from what Ryo's said, I'd wager that Cyberdramon could give those two a run for their money if he was so inclined."

Cyberdramon, overhearing this, snorted, but didn't shift from his position in front of the fire.

Ken fell back to the grass with his hands clasped beneath his head. After a moment of staring up at the sky, his eyes widened in pleasure and he pointed up. "Shooting stars."

At this cue, the others quickly looked up. Indeed, through the hole in the canopy of trees, a number of meteors burning up in the Digital World's atmosphere could clearly be seen streaking across the sky.

Yolei sighed in contentment. "No matter what world you go to, there always seems to be a little bit of home there waiting for you."

"So long as you take the time to notice," Cody added, mirroring Ryo and Ken's reclined positions on the springy grass below them. Above them, the stellar show continued on long into the night.

xxxxx

A snort of foul breath punctured the nighttime air while wings rustled restively in the darkness.

_'Rest while you may, for you may not awaken…'_

XxXxX

/DigiWorld Beta. 8:55 pm./

Beelzemon flapped his great wings furiously, his mind focused on one thing only: getting back to the others. A prickling sensation was beginning to crawl up his spine, and he didn't like the warning it imparted one bit.

Unfortunately, he'd somehow managed to get lost within the expansive city of DigiVegas. Now, the Mega had stumbled upon an area that was lit far more dimly than the rest of the metropolis. A few blue and pink neon lights illuminated the deserted streets, but the scarcity of light made the looming skyscrapers seem to stand closer together, caging in the flying Digimon.

Growling, Beelzemon flapped his wings harder. _'I don't like da__ feel of di__s place. It's too quiet here, and I'm __gettin__'__ da idea I'm __walki__n__'__ into something here…'_

A rumble of thunder sounded above him. Surprised, the Mega looked up…

…and caught a raindrop in his eye.

Wiping away the water, Beelzemon grimaced. "As if tings weren't bad enough," he muttered to himself.

The rain came swiftly, and the street was soon slick with flowing water. In the air, Beelzemon hovered momentarily, wondering how to move ahead.

_'Dey'll be back inside by now…_' the Mega mused, before he shook his head fiercely. _'__No, wait. It's gotta be almost nine by now. That means dey'll have already left for dat tournament.'_

Half groaning, half growling, Beelzemon said aloud, "I wish I hadn't gotten lost. Dis makes tings more difficult…'

"Too right!"

The snide voice was the Mega's only warning. In the next instant, a booted heel had connected with the small of Beelzemon's back, sending the Digimon to the street, cursing loudly.

As Beelzemon hit the pavement heavily, another figure landed far more gracefully with his tail flicking wildly behind him. Chuckling, the other being—whose silhouette Beelzemon instantly recognized as his own—said, "You know, a pair of wings doesn't always protect you from aerial attacks. Maybe you should have been looking up instead of getting lost in thought. You might not have found your way back, one way or the other."

Climbing to his feet, Beelzemon scowled darkly as he summoned Death Slinger to his right hand. "I'm not in da habit of jumpin' off skyscrapers ta get da drop on my opponent," he growled. "You'll excuse me if I didn't expect dat."

"No, actually, I won't." Nails gleaming with purple light, the Demon Lord Beelzemon settled into a loose fighting stance.

Beelzemon Blast Mode snorted as he brought Death Slinger to bear. "Ya know what? Dat's just fine wit' me."

XxXxX

A/N: A quick note on the 'Money is a great servant, but a bad master' example I used in the text. As a servant, I mean money is a good tool, which is (ideally) used for one thing and one thing only: as a unit of value for comparison with other things, while possessing no real intrinsic value in and of itself—though those who worship and hoard money needlessly might disagree with me. Without money, after all, we'd still be bartering with each other, and we wouldn't have a stable, standardized economy. The 'money is a bad master' part shouldn't need to be explained. This little author's note is to help keep things clear; I could run myself in circles with these discussions if I tried, so avoiding an ambiguous statement that people might take the wrong way (or simply be confused by) is helpful to all of us, yes?

One note that you might appreciate: as it's obvious that both Impmon and the Demon Lord Beelzemon are in DigiWorld Beta, if there's ever a scene where the two are together, the Demon Lord's name will be temporarily changed to the Japanese 'Beelzebumon' for clarity's sake. Just… ignore the fact that the names are interchangeable and will be used differently in accordance. Perhaps even by the characters in the story in dialogue.

In other news, I finally realized—thanks to a reviewer of another of my Digimon fics—that 'anonymous review' had been turned off up until this point. That situation has been rectified, so now no one has any excuse not to review! Cheers!


	14. Deadlock

Disclaimer:

"Fifteen men on a dead man's chest…" Takato sings to himself leisurely as he coils a length of rope in his hand. "Yo ho ho, and a bottle of rum…"

"Seaman Matsuki!"

Takato snaps to attention and jerks his right arm—with twenty-plus feet of rope still in that hand—into a hasty salute. "Yes, sir! Um, ma'am? I mean… ah…"

Rika Nonaka narrows her eyes and folds her arms across her chest. "What exactly are you doing, you scabrous dog?" she asks, in a less than casual sort of way.

"Cleaning up the deck, Captain Nonaka," Takato replies a little defensively. "I nearly tripped over this a few minutes ago, so I figured—"

"What task did I assign you _before_ that?" Captain Rika cuts in, her amethyst eyes glinting.

"Ah… I think I've forgotten."

"Evidently." Sighing, Rika points upwards to the mizzen-mast, where Kazu is having a… _trying_ time securing the mast all by his lonesome. "Remember now?"

Takato winces and salutes again. "Yes, ma'am. I'm on it, ma'am."

As the deckhand scurries away, leaving a pile of jumbled rope in his wake, Captain Rika closes her striking eyes and massages her temples. "If I'd known that being captain was so much work, I'd have become quartermaster instead…"

"You were the best person for the job, Nonaka; firm hand and all that. Besides, given our profession, being quartermaster would have been almost as tiring, but minus the perks you get as captain. Like that nice big cabin."

Rika opens her eyes. "Nolaquen?"

Fluffing the giant feather sticking out of his tri-cornered hat, the author replies mildly, "That's _Commodore _Nolaquen to you, remember?"

Rolling her eyes, almost in time to the ship's steady movements at open sea, the Tamer says, "We're pirates. How can you have a military rank—greater than a captain's, for that matter—when the navy would hang us if it got the chance? There's no _system_ to support that title…"

"It makes for a dramatic introduction," the Commodore answers, deadpan. "Plus, I get three shares of the booty. That tops your salary by one."

Captain Rika groans and puts a hand to her forehead, where a nondescript bandanna is tied over her reddish-gold hair. Noting this, Nolaquen comments questioningly, "Where's the hat I gave you to match your position?"

Rika's gaze turns sharp and deadly. "It. Was. _Pink._"

Shrugging, the author walks to the ship's railing. "I could have made Mimi captain, you know. Can you imagine what _that_ would have been like?"

A sudden image of Rika scrubbing the deck for hours on end while Mimi lounges behind the ship's wheel in a stolen throne of gold and jewels manifests in the Tamers' mind's eye. Meanwhile, the ship is falling to pieces around them, as Tachikawa's management skills are sadly… lacking.

"I… see your point."

"Of course. Anyway, if you threw the hat overboard, I'll get you a better one the next time we make port, if you're interested."

"…fine. As long as it's not girly," Rika concedes as she turns and heads up to the stern, where Izzy is faithfully piloting the great vessel. Commodore Nolaquen bounds up the stairs behind her, apparently not possessing any of the dignity or poise that a rank such as his should impart.

The setting for this scene is, obviously, a pirate ship. To be precise, it is a triple-masted sailing vessel—a galleon, if you want to get even more specific—replete with lots of heavy cannons, a month's worth of provisions stowed in the hold, and a crew of humans who have extensive experience in Digimon-related matters. How that helps them man the ship, however, even the author doesn't have much of a clue.

"And I'm the one writing this, too. Oh, by the way: I don't own Digimon."

Did I mention the fact that the entire ship is black so that it's camouflaged at night?

"You have now. I mean, _I _have now…"

Rika stares at the author. "What is that even _called,_ when you start talking to yourself on both the narrator and characters' levels?"

"I'm pretty sure that's 'insanity'," Nolaquen replies, shrugging carelessly. The feather in his hat falls in front of his eyes, and the author sends it back up with a puff of breath.

Captain Rika, for her part, does not look encouraged.

Anyway… the year is something like 1803. That's A.D., of course. And our heroes—or anti-heroes, if you're against piracy in general—are now looking for something to plunder on the open seas of the Atlantic…

"I think that's enough exposition," Izzy interrupts. "I'd prefer some rising action, myself." Rika nods firmly and Nolaquen concedes with a shrug.

"Okay. So, Quartermaster Izzy, what's our heading?" the Commodore queries as he leans against the railing casually.

"We are currently traveling at a more or less constant speed of twelve knots per hour in a south-south westerly direction. According to the nautical charts and my own calculations, our bearing is on the order of two hundred and twenty-five degrees—with due north being the reference point, of course. As such, we should be arriving at the Isla de Tesoro in two and a half days."

"So much for leaving _exposition _in the dust…" Rika grumbles. 

Izzy simply shrugs. "He asked. And my answer_ was_ dry enough for dust, so…"

"That was a bad pun," Nolaquen says, amused and a little impressed. Then, his face scrunches up in confusion. "Wait. Nautical charts? What about the GPS I brought with us?"

Izzy sweatdrops. "As it's the early nineteenth century, there aren't any satellites in orbit."

"Darn. I knew I forgot something."

Heroically resisting the urge to palm her face, Rika asks, "Okay, what's this about an 'Isla de Tesoro'? I thought we were looking for another ship to plunder."

"Sudden change of plans," Nolaquen replies confidently. "This makes for a better story. Island of treasure, and all that. We'll probably find cannibals inhabiting the area, and we'll need to fight for our lives just to return to the ship in one piece… and uncooked. Then, an implausible plot device will allow us to reach the treasure, but we might have to abandon it in order to avoid a sappy 'happily-ever-after' ending. Plus, that'd be the end of our need for pillaging; I ask you, where's the fun in that?"

Frowning, the captain asks cautiously, "Are you sure about this? It all sounds a little… cliché."

Clearing his throat to attract the Tamer's attention, Izzy mutters, "Remember who we're talking to."

Rika finally _does_ palm her face now. "Right. Stupidest comment of the day…"

"I hold this truth to be self-evident," Nolaquen proclaims, beaming at the pair.

Suddenly, a shrieking cry can be heard, quickly followed by a loud splash. After an exchange of confused looks, the trio dash to the side of the ship and peer into the water. Splashing about furiously and yelling expletives that would make a sailor blush, Kazu can be seen floating in the bluish-green water below.

It doesn't take a genius to figure this one out…

"Sorry, Kazu!" Takato yells anxiously as he peers downwards from the mizzen-mast. "The rope slipped, and I… uh… don't worry, we'll save you!"

Shaking his head in exaggerated disbelief, Nolaquen shouts down to the main deck, _"Man overboard!"_

As Davis and Tai begin hurriedly hauling up a length of knotted and disorderly rope to throw to the Tamer in the water, the Commodore turns to both Rika and Izzy… and grins widely.

"I've always wanted to say that."

A/N: Hm. I might run with this for a little while. 'The Further Adventures of _The Dreamer's Ark_ and Its Fearsome Pirate Crew.' Heh heh heh…

Anyway, sorry about the long period between updates, but I've been busy. A little something called life gets in the way on occasion. Well, more often than that.

You know, it's amusing that, as I write, I keep forgetting that the Tamers and the older DigiDestined are around the same age. This whole fic takes place three years after Tamers ends, and only a few short months after the second season does. It was a curious little idea of mine to begin with—the timeline's something screwy here—but I've yet to fully absorb the fact. Strange, huh? I doubt many of you were keeping track, either.

XxXxX

**Chapter Fourteen: Deadlock**

XxXxX

/DigiWorld Beta. _The Seventh Heaven. _9:01 p.m./

"And with that, I now commence this tournament!" the Piddomon, clad flamboyantly in garish clothing that made Gamblermon shake his head, finally concluded. Kenta and MarineAngemon sighed in relief; for the past five minutes, the Champion Angel had spoken at length about the various sponsors who had _so graciously_ provided the funding and rewards—here, Gamblermon had snorted quietly—for the event, the code of conduct expected of both the participants and the observers, and wishing many players the best of luck after calling out each of their names from a list. It was all very fascinating, but the Tamer and his partner had quickly grown weary of the oration, despite the melodious lilt of Piddomon's voice.

Amid a scattering of applause, the angelic Champion raised his hands and declared, "Find a table, and may the games begin!"

Kenta jumped as Gamblermon set a hand on the teen's shoulder. "With us, Kenta," the Ultimate commented as he began steering the Tamer and his partner through the bustling crowd.

_The Seventh Heaven_ was, certainly, a very impressive establishment. Carpeted in thick material of rich red and golden colors, illuminated by soft lights set in crystalline chandeliers, and divided into semi-private lounges by quarter room-height walls covered in expensive wood paneling… everything about the casino implied both great wealth and taste. Kenta had to admit, despite the apparent disreputability regarding at least one of the prizes, things looked very high class here.

The same might also be said of most of the tournament's attendants. Never had Kenta ever seen Digimon walking around so _regally_ and _aloofly_. Not to mention the fact that most were wearing extra clothing that didn't typically come with their usual appearance. Shawls, skirts, suit coats, and even floppy hats were all visibly worn by species as diverse as Loewemon, Prairiemon, Frigimon, and PrinceMamemon. That each article of clothing was typically worn by itself, with nothing else similar to accompany it, struck the Tamer as somewhat bizarre. To his mind, it seemed as though everyone was walking around wearing pieces of outfits—which might have looked somewhat normal back in the Real World, had they been complete—over their everyday attire… or lack thereof.

_'I wonder if this has something to do with 'high society' here? Maybe wearing extra stuff that they don't need is a kind of status symbol…'_

Kenta was shaken from his musing as he, MarineAngemon, and Gamblermon abruptly found themselves in front of a table with three empty seats; the other two were occupied by a FlaWizardmon and an Astamon.

"As good a place as any," Gamblermon murmured to his companions as he set himself down on one of the remaining stools.

The three Demon Men exchanged nonverbal greetings—Gamblermon's polite smile and inclined head were met by a raised hand on FlaWizardmon's part and a minute nod from the other Ultimate—before Gamblermon said to Kenta, "I'm afraid you'll have to stand against the wall while we play, my friend. No room for any but the players this close to the table, and there aren't exactly extra chairs for that purpose."

Kenta sighed heavily, not quite looking forward to standing on his feet the whole night, but he nodded nonetheless. Turning to MarineAngemon, he instructed his partner earnestly, "Alright, do a good job in there, buddy. Gamblermon says you've got talent, and I guess we're going to find out for real right here."

MarineAngemon chirruped cheerfully, "Okay!"

Grinning, Kenta added, "And don't forget to have fun! And win, if you can!"

Giggling at his Tamer's words, the little Mega floated over to one of the last two stools, situated between FlaWizardmon and Gamblermon. Kenta, finding himself with nothing else to do but wait and watch, took up a place against the short wall where he had a clear view of both his partner's and Gamblermon's profiles and the felt-covered table in front of them.

An eventless minute passed, during which FlaWizardmon and Gamblermon engaged in light conversation and Astamon maintained a guarded silence. By the time Kenta first shifted position to keep the blood to his feet going, he found himself glad that there was room enough for him to stay inside the playing area; the walls surrounding the table and accompanying area were just at the Tamer's eye level. Had he needed to stay outside, he would have needed a stool or something to stand on the entire time.

When a hand suddenly clapped down on his shoulder, Kenta jumped and whirled about in surprise, only to be greeted by Matt's grinning face. "Sorry, didn't mean to startle you," the DigiDestined said, looking over the short, paneled partition. There was only a few inches difference in height between Kenta and Matt, but the DigiDestined was still able to peer over the wall separating the two with little difficulty.

"Ah, no problem, Matt." It still made Kenta feel that the world was quite surreal when he addressed any of the DigiDestined, but that perception was finally beginning to fade away. "Just waiting for… well, I don't actually know _what_ we're waiting on."

"The dealer, of course," Gamblermon supplied, momentarily turning aside from FlaWizardmon. "It's somewhat difficult to play cards without one, as you might imagine."

"Oh." Kenta chuckled for a moment.

Rolling his eyes, Matt crossed his arms over the top of the wall and said, "Well, the rest of us are sort of wandering around at the moment. Haven't seen Impmon since we left, but other than that, there's no real news."

Kenta frowned thoughtfully. "You know, I wonder if someone ought to go out and help look for the Portal? It's a big city."

"Hmm…" Matt rubbed his chin thoughtfully before resting his head upon his crossed hands. "You know, that might be a good idea. I'll take Gabumon in a while after I watch a few rounds."

"Sticking around for moral support, eh?" FlaWizardmon unexpectedly commented. "It's good to have friends in this city. Lord knows there are too many of the fair-weather sort in the area…"

Smiling, Gamblermon replied, "Well, as it happens, I've found these gentlemen and their associates to be of the highest caliber, with regards to their character."

"A rare find, indeed," the Armor-level Digimon said appreciatively.

"To be sure," Gamblermon responded, winking conspiratorially at MarineAngemon. The petite Mega snickered while catching Kenta's eye. Shrugging with a lopsided grin that would normally be found on Takato's face—or perhaps Han Solo's—the Tamer mused, "You know, it's great to be on the receiving end of flattery."

"It's far better than a fan girl's obsession, let me tell ya," Matt said, smirking. "Sincerity is so much better when it's veiled, or maybe just directed, by discretion and good manners."

"Ah. We're both thinking of Jun Motomiya here, aren't we?"

"Yep. I'd say that I feel sorry for Jim Kido, but last I heard they were actually getting on pretty well." Suddenly pausing, Matt said wonderingly, "You know, I think I'm finally starting to adjust to this whole crazy deal. That comment didn't unnerve me nearly as much as it would have a few days ago."

Chuckling, Kenta replied, "I know the feeling."

The exchange was soon interrupted by the arrival of another Digimon: Kuzuhamon. In a tone that seemed far milder than Sakuyamon's typical behavior, but no less mystical or authoritative, the Mega level Shaman Digimon stated without ado, "I am your dealer tonight. This may only be a game, but cheaters here are not tolerated." Then, she added with a decidedly firmer voice, "Is that clear to each of you?"

Even Kenta found himself nodding quickly, though he was not a participant in the competition. Realizing this, the Tamer sheepishly cast his eyes around the small lounge in an effort to look casual.

Noting this, Kuzuhamon let the tiniest of amused smirks cross her lips. Kenta winced instinctively. _'Yep. Just like Rika and Renamon…'_

Drawing her attention away from the Tamer, Kuzuhamon gestured with a hand and, out of thin air, a deck of cards materialized above her open palm. As she began shuffling the cards casually—though still doing so with a speed and dexterity that made Kenta incredibly envious—she asked, "Are there no others who will join us at this table?"

Casting a glance around, Gamblermon shrugged. "We've only one empty chair left. Whenever you gentlemen are ready, I'm inclined to begin."

MarineAngemon and FlaWizardmon nodded in agreement. Astamon's red eyes passed over his fellows before he also inclined his head, still silent.

"Very well," Kuzuhamon said, placing her hand on the topmost card. "Standard tournament rules, minimum bid is one hundred credits. Now—"

"I hope you weren't planning on starting without me," interjected a silky, smooth-as-milk voice that made Kenta's face burn with sudden heat. At a glance, he could see that the other males looked equally gob smacked, excepting Astamon, who instead turned a darkly speculative gaze over Kuzuhamon's shoulder.

The speaker seemed to glide into the lounge like mist over a wintry lake, and Kenta was immediately entranced by the seductive grace that the Digimon carried herself with. Having never imagined that a Digital creature could be so… _appealing_ to the senses, the Tamer absently registered that Kazu would be making some rather inappropriate comments at the moment. She was _that_ human-like. Not to mention… enticing.

A sudden _thunk_ finally seized Kenta's attention. Looking over his shoulder, he just had time to see Matt's face slowly slide off the top of the wall; it seemed as though the DigiDestined's knees had given out, and he had face-planted on the way down.

"…ow…" Matt said dazedly as he lay sprawled on the other side of the wall, eyes glazed over.

Smiling as she slid down onto the cushioned stool next to Astamon, the mysteriously alluring Digimon said, in way of an introduction, "Lilithmon. It's a _pleasure_ to make your acquaintance." A saucy wink that seemed directed at every being in the lounge quickly followed on the heels of this statement.

Kenta felt as though he was about to pass out.

xxxxx

Beelzemon Blast Mode snarled as he twisted into a sudden aerial evasion; a sliver of a second later, a stream of bullets ripped through the air where the Mega had just been, parting the falling rain like knives through a curtain of gossamer silk.

On the ground below, the Demon Lord Beelzebumon grinned savagely as he let loose another volley, which his winged counterpart dodged with equal alacrity, however sloppy the maneuver was forced to be.

"It's like shooting pigeons in a field," the demonic Mega chuckled under his breath; his crimson eyes, however, glittered in a way that was not reminiscent of good, wholesome fun.

At last finding an opening, Beelzemon rolled in midair and threw himself into a broad downward arc; as a result, he was momentarily gliding towards the ground at a slight angle. This allowed the Mega to turn his head and—looking nearly over his shoulder—align Death Slinger with his target. "Pigeons don't shoot back, though."

A triple burst of purple energy erupted from between the blaster's prongs, blazing through the nighttime air at high velocities and turning water to steam. Beelzebumon's grin momentarily faded into something considerably nastier as he launched sideways into a roll; the pavement behind him blew apart before it was vaporized, leaving behind an unpleasant sulfurous odor.

Climbing to his feet quickly, the Demon Lord trained both his shotguns on Beelzemon, who flapped his ebony wings furiously to gain some height.

_"Double Impact!"_

Beelzemon jerked and bit back a cry as two bullets ripped through the tip of his left wing. _'Not good.'_

Eyes narrowing in a sudden epiphany, Beelzemon dismissed Death Slinger as he reached the top of his ascending arc. As he stopped climbing, he flipped over and gave a single fierce flap before he wrapped his wings tightly around himself. The result? The airborne Mega was angled directly at his doppelganger below, and plummeting far more quickly than terminal velocity allowed on its own.

Beelzebumon gritted his teeth. "What—?"

_"Darkness Claw!"_

With a speed that resembled Superman barreling through Metropolis, Beelzemon uncrossed his arms from in front of his chest the instant before he plowed into his foe. Thin lines of gleaming purple energy were left in the wake of the Mega's razor-like claws as they sliced through Beelzebumon's leather vest and into his skin. The speed of his assault was great enough that the Digimon flew by a bare moment later, leaving Beelzebumon standing unsteadily with his face set in a rictus of rage.

Beelzemon, however, wasn't done. In a quick draw that would have left the West's greatest gunslingers supremely embarrassed, the Mega—flying parallel to the ground on his back, with his wings now outstretched—sighted down his own body before calling out, _"Quick Shot!"_

A flurry of lead traveling at supersonic speeds peppered the Demon Lord's side; one stray bullet cut a gouge into Beelzebumon's face mask, just above his right eye.

Beelzemon smirked as he alighted on the street some two dozen feet away. "How'd ya like dat? Not so easy pickin' on me, is it?" Resummoning Death Slinger to his right hand, the Mega surveyed his opponent warily.

A wild dog was always most dangerous when cornered, but Beelzemon hadn't been able to resist the jibes.

He just hoped he didn't end up regretting it.

The Demon Lord, however, merely stood facing Beelzemon. Though his clothing was torn and his breath was uneven, the demonic Digimon's gaze was now quite cool and collected.

Repressing a frown, Beelzemon thought to himself, _'Now, what's he got up his sleeve? I know __I__ wouldn't be standin' dere with dat look on my face unless he had something planned.'_

Indeed, a moment later, Beelzebumon smirked and said puckishly, "Catch me if you can."

Then, the Demon Lord was flying down a side alley, with Beelzemon staring after him hesitantly.

The malicious undertone of the comment wasn't even necessary for the Mega to decide that he didn't like this one bit.

_'Ambush, obviously. But he's gotta get somewhere first, and lay a trap—I get da feeling he's not usually da subtle type. Takes after me dat way. So he probably hasn't got anythin' set up already.'_

Flexing his wings enough to send him into the air, Beelzemon paused for another moment before swiftly following the fleeing Demon Lord.

_'I must be crazy. I know I oughta get some of da others—just as insurance—but I'll lose him if I leave now.'_

_'…I've got him on da run. I know I'm heading into somethin', so I'll be ready for anythin'.'_

Yeah, right.

_'…well, I'll be mostly ready. Dis is too good a chance to pass up: another of da Demon Lords out for da count.'_

And with this uneasy logic, Beelzemon began to track his doppelganger through the dark, twisting alleys of DigiVegas in the pouring rain.

XxXxX

/DigiWorld Alpha. 9:07 p.m./

_'Why am I so angry?'_ some distant corner of Takato's mind pondered, nearly lost amid the furious tide of raging emotions and icy battle instincts.

Parry, dodge, lateral swipe.

_'I mean, yeah, this guy's evil. And insane. He's done horrible things right in front of our eyes; the evidence is there, burning at my back. I can feel it from here.'_

Jump, _Lightning Joust_, spin.

_'But still… what's wrong with me?'_

Feint, thrust, sidestep, riposte.

_'When did this become so personal? When did I abandon a center of calm in favor of a berserker's ferocity and single mindedness?'_

Guard, deflect, stab, _Lightning Joust_, lunge.

_'…when I saw him, and when I realized what he was capable of doing. What he'd DONE.'_

Parry, jump, ignore the pain, diagonal slash, back step, flinch.

_'…I feel dirty. Soiled. Like he's dragging me down to his level…'_

_"Less talking, Takato, and more fighting!"_ Guilmon growled, his tone uncharacteristically snappy.

A fresh flood of battle fever and reddish anger poured into Takato's mind, wiping away any complacent musings in the back of his head. _"Right,"_ the Tamer snarled in a manner approaching that of his saurian partner, _"no games. No hesitation."_

Gallantmon backpedaled a few steps, leaving ChaosGallantmon to take a leisurely breather.

"_No mercy."_

With an animalistic scream that sent chills down his friends' spines—and incited a curious, considering gaze from the Dark Warrior—Gallantmon raised Gram high into the air, his hidden face contorted by a dark glower.

"_LIGHTNING CHARGE!"_

The tip of the Warrior's lance burst into illumination in an explosion of crackling, snarling energy. Crooked streams of bluish electricity leapt from that single point… to everywhere else in the clearing.

ChaosGallantmon's sulfurous eyes widened marginally before narrowing again in concentration. In a split second decision, the Dark Warrior launched himself into the air, attempting to avoid some damage by _not_ being grounded.

Taomon, ExVeemon, and Lillymon—already in the air—barely paused to gape before assembling a desperate defense against the unexpected attack. While Taomon raced towards the humans and Guardromon still on the sidelines, the DigiDestined's partners began an aerial ballet; with movements as swift and precise as they could make them, ExVeemon and Lillymon danced around the wicked arcs of electricity flying haphazardly through the air. Though none had hit them as of yet, the two could _feel_ the intensity of the attack even as the power passed them by: sometimes by a matter of inches.

Taomon, on the other hand, quickly threw up a spherical shield around herself and the rest of the group, who were helpless against the onslaught. Wincing as several thick strands of electricity slammed into her magical barrier with the force of a rampaging elephant, the Ultimate gritted her teeth even as her mind felt rather slack in the face of her bewilderment.

'_What has gotten into the two of you?'_ she had time to wonder before a stronger blast of energy nearly destroyed her defenses entirely. Redoubling her focus and power, the Wizard-type Digimon abandoned any attempt to decipher her companion's current behavior.

Kazu, on the other hand, had no such inhibitors.

"_TAKATO, GUILMON!" _the Tamer cried out, "_WHAT THE __HECK_ _IS GOING THROUGH YOUR THICK HEADS!"_

Thunderclaps from a fresh volley of buzzing, snapping energy rocked the clearing, drowning out the Tamer's voice. The burning forest seemed to quiver in the sonic wake, before growing even hotter. Were it not for the protective effects of Taomon's shield, Kazu felt sure that he and others would have been roasted soon after.

And so, Rika, Davis, Kazu, and Mimi stared at the world outside their translucent bubble with varying degrees of shock and dismay. Guardromon remained stoic, though his eyes had hardened to the point of being like chips of polished steel—harder even than his own armor.

In the sky above, ExVeemon and Lillymon were getting by on little more than luck alone at this point. And as any disenchanted gambler will tell you, luck always runs out.

Lillymon, already feeling battered and off-balance from ChaosGallantmon's earlier bludgeoning, felt her attention slip for one crucial moment as a bolt of pain shot up her back…

…before agony trapped her and beat her into utter submission.

"_AAAAAAHHHHHH!"_ the Ultimate shrieked as lightning struck her in the chest. Wings frozen in involuntary spasms, the Pixie began to fall; ExVeemon saw this, helpless, from some distance away. The Champion could spare barely an anxious glance before throwing himself into a barrel roll to avoid another massive spark of energy.

Within Taomon's sphere of protection, Mimi's eyes widened in reflexive fear. Mouthing her partner's name silently, she took one mindless step forward—

—before Kazu and Davis seized both of her arms.

"Don't even think about it!" Davis exclaimed, gesturing with his free hand. "You go out there, you're fried instantly!"

"But… Lillymon…" the DigiDestined murmured, eyes fixed on her partner as she hit the ground with a distant _thud_.

Kazu frowned and replied firmly, "You can't do her any good going out into that storm." Not willing to release her, and risk a potential mad dash towards her fallen partner, the Tamer fixed Guardromon with a steely look.

The mechanized Champion nodded resolutely. "I will do my best, Kazu." Without another word, Guardromon fired up the rockets on his back and quickly passed through Taomon's shield. The Ultimate frowned as she attempted to further strengthen the barrier; she had the feeling that she wouldn't be able to hold out against the onslaught for much longer.

In the air, ChaosGallantmon winced as an arc of cobalt lightning glanced off his armor. "Playing rough, are we?" the Dark Warrior mused as he oriented Gorgon. "Sounds like fun." Drawing a breath, the Mega cried out, _"JUDECCA PRISON!"_

The attack flashed through the air with an obscene amount of force. Electricity in and near its path seemed to fall into and twist around it, as though it were simultaneously attracted to and repelled by the power of the indigo beam. In a moment, the Dark Warrior's attack was surrounded by a thick coil of writhing, lethal lightning.

Gallantmon didn't notice until he was hit with a sledgehammer wrapped in his own power.

"_**AAAAAGGGGGHHHHH!"**_

With nerves on fire, Gallantmon drew a ragged gasp of disbelief as the Mega's concentration was ruthlessly shattered. In the space of a second, the Warrior's _Lightning Charge_ finally dissipated, leaving ExVeemon above heaving in astonished relief.

But Gallantmon felt something crack.

Looking down—trying to ignore the pain that such a simple movement caused—the Biomerged Digimon stared down at his chest in distant confusion.

A spiderweb of deep cracks had spread across his chest plate, which was also charred and smoking.

In addition, the large crimson and gold pauldron on Gallantmon's left shoulder had sheared off entirely, leaving a ruin of white metal in its place.

Then the pain hit him in full. Falling to his knees with an involuntary cry, the Mega Warrior squeezed his eyes shut in a rictus of pain. Inside his data sphere, Takato convulsed as pain swept up and down his limbs, and through his chest.

'…_stupid… stupid… wasn't thinking… wasn't paying attention…'_

Guilmon's only reaction was a deep throated growl, rooted as much in ire as in pain.

Nearby, Guardromon sighed in relief as he carefully picked up a dazed Palmon. Keeping a close eye on the two combatants in the middle of the small field, the Champion quickly made his way back to Taomon and the others. Mimi soon received the weakened Rookie in her waiting arms before nodding to the robotic Digimon gratefully. Noting this, ChaosGallantmon smirked devilishly.

"You're doing my job for me, Tamer."

The words snapped Takato back into reality; with an heroic effort, he left the pain behind and glared into his doppelganger's eyes.

"…that was… definitely my fault… but I'll be more careful from now on," the Warrior gasped, with both Takato and Guilmon again speaking in unison.

Snorting, ChaosGallantmon replied evenly, "What gives you the right to continue fighting? You could have killed all of your little friends. Who says they even want you on their side anymore?"

Gallantmon's eyes darkened as he raised Gram again, intent on deleting the insidious obscenity before him.

Still, a corner of both Takato and Guilmon recoiled.

'_This isn't right… we're fighting like him, without meaning to. Thoughtless, looking to hurt and wound in retaliation. We have to stop…'_ the pair thought together.

Rika seemed to agree.

"_TAKATO!"_

Gallantmon jerked and reflexively turned his head to look at the fiery Tamer.

Clenching her fists, Rika shouted, "Get a hold of yourself! You're not helping anyone like this!"

Drawing a deep, calming breath, Gallantmon closed his eyes and pushed at the anger boiling within him. After a moment, he started to feel lighter as the fury diminished and began to recede…

"How sweet."

Snapping his eyes back open, Gallantmon saw his mirror image shaking his head in a parody of sympathetic humor.

The Dark Warrior continued, "I can guess that she knows you pretty well… she must have been surprised when you started freaking out like that, putting her in harm's way. Hurt, too, probably. You know, it's a kind of personal betrayal when you do something so destructive and out of character. Especially for so little reason."

The remains of the Mikemon village still smoldered in the background, and the Mega's gaze drifted over the unrecognizable wreckage with a sardonic motion.

Eyes then narrowing to a point where they could barely be seen, except for the dark gleam they held in their depths, ChaosGallantmon ventured, "Perhaps I could help her? Perhaps I could… relieve her of the possibility of feeling such pain? Emotional… or otherwise."

Struggling to hold his flaring emotions in check once more, Takato alone replied in a dangerous tone, "If you're suggesting what I think you're suggesting… then you take away her ability to feel _anything_… even the good things."

"Is that a problem?" ChaosGallantmon queried, his tone becoming colder while a deadly smile began to spread across his hidden face.

"Yes!" Gallantmon spat in his dual voice. Raising his shield to cover his weakened armor, the Mega then said slowly, "No more words. No more games. Let's just… finish this."

"So you wish me to kill you all now, with no further delay? No more insightful comments or cutting witticism from yours truly?" ChaosGallantmon seemed to ponder this before shrugging carelessly. "Fine. Let's have it your way."

With a sudden sweep of his lance, ChaosGallantmon sighted on the group within Taomon's shield.

"You might be surprised, but I _do_ enjoy efficient kills."

Gallantmon froze as the tip of his opponent's lance began to glow. There was nothing he could do at this range, in the time he'd need. Half a second, and it would all be over.

"_EXVEE KICK!"_

ChaosGallantmon grunted as ExVeemon, glowing with a flickering blue aura, slammed into his side. The Mega's attack, having been an instant from release, now streaked just over the top of Taomon's protective dome, which still rippled with the amount of sheer power behind the blast.

Davis pumped his fist as ExVeemon continued his sudden assault, following up with punches and kicks delivered faster than he had seen his partner do before. "That's the way! Keep him off balance!"

Unexpectedly, ChaosGallantmon had yet to assemble a defense; instead, the Mega began to backpedal with a surprised look.

The azure aura surrounding the Mythical Dragon surged, and the Digimon's form seemed to shift, even as the blows continued to fall upon the Dark Warrior.

"Is he…?" Rika murmured as a particularly powerful punch forced ChaosGallantmon back several yards.

Davis nodded, with an equally thrilled and astounded look plastered on his face. "Digivolving." A glance at his D-3 seemed to support this; the screen was glowing a solid white.

With a draconic cry that set hairs on end, Veemon's Ultimate form suddenly burst into view as the aura surrounding him pulsed once before dissipating.

Grinning contentedly, Davis set his smug gaze on ChaosGallantmon, who had the decency to look mildly impressed. "That's my partner."

"AeroVeedramon," Rika supplied, nodding. "Not bad, for a Gogglehead."

Indeed, the Phantom Dragon called AeroVeedramon hovered a few feet above the ground, where ExVeemon had been moments before. Flexing his new crimson wings experimentally, the Ultimate gained several yards in altitude before fixing ChaosGallantmon with a red-eyed glare.

"You're going to pay, now," AeroVeedramon growled in a deeper voice than he had formerly possessed.

"Sorry, I left my wallet at home. I don't suppose you'd take a check?" the Dark Warrior quipped as he settled into a defensive stance.

"Nope. This is coming out of your hide."

With a burst of speed, that left ChaosGallantmon time to blink once, the Ultimate was suddenly deep within his opponent's personal space.

"_Magnum Crusher!"_

A fist, wrapped in fiery cobalt energy, impacted with ChaosGallantmon's face. With a muffled grunt, the Mega allowed the momentum of the punch to carry him halfway across the clearing before he slid to a controlled stop.

"…note to self. Do not underestimate the overgrown lizard."

The Dark Warrior's blue visor was crumpled on one side, nearly rent from its place on his helmet.

Grinning the kind of grin that only a dragon can pull off, AeroVeedramon flapped his wings almost lazily before his expression hardened into something sterner. "Your mind games don't mean a thing to me. Maybe you can bother Gallantmon—I know that you're managing it somehow—but I'm not giving you any slack to work with."

ChaosGallantmon smirked mirthlessly. "It seems I've found a worthy opponent. Utterly without potential, and with too much purity in that self-righteousness, but still…" Raising Balmunc so he could look down his arm at his new opponent, the Dark Warrior challenged, "En garde."

The two clashed as fists collided with lance and shield. Displaying an astounding agility, despite his bulky build, AeroVeedramon deftly evaded ChaosGallantmon's lance, while wailing on the Dark Digimon with fists that could crumple steel like tin.

"This is… a surprise," Kazu commented dazedly. And he couldn't be blamed; it wasn't all that often that an unexpected Digivolution turned the tides of battle in the humans' favor. It typically only happened about three times each for a pair of active partners over the course of… well, any given period of time.

Taomon nodded, lending her voice to the tentative conversation. "He's quite powerful in that form, even though he's a full level below ChaosGallantmon."

"Level's not everything, of course," Rika commented distractedly. "We knew that long before you even Digivolved to Champion."

"It's usually more of a factor at this stage, though," Kazu added thoughtfully. Inside, contrary to his calm outward appearance, he was delighted at seeing the new Ultimate form of one of his favorite Digimon: and in action, no less.

Still… the fact that he had failed to help Guardromon to achieve that same level was still very much present in his mind.

Mimi, however, was preoccupied with something completely different. "…what… is Gallantmon doing?"

The group reflexively sent a glance towards the elder DigiDestined before turning to see what she meant.

Gallantmon was seething. More so…

…he was steeped in darkness.

But he wasn't surrounded by shadows. Instead… black flames were dancing around his armored body, pulsing in time to his labored exhalations.

Davis' eye twitched. "…that doesn't look good."

Rika, Kazu, and their partners shared worried looks. Each was experiencing a series of flashbacks that were not at all encouraging.

Seizing on an impulse which she knew to be important, Rika again called out, "Gallantmon! _Takato!"_

"…he would have killed you."

Taken aback at the conflicted tone that Gallantmon now spoke in, Rika took half a step back, feeling somewhat intimidated by the sudden change in his demeanor.

"…he would have killed _all_ of you."

"_V-Nova Blast!"_ AeroVeedramon cried out, oblivious to the drama unfolding not too far away. The V-shaped blast of azure fire flew from the Ultimate's mouth and collided with ChaosGallantmon's shield, which deflected the majority of the attack's power.

"…and I couldn't stop him."

Gallantmon's voice was simultaneously searing in its intensity and glacially frigid in its emotional tenor… or lack thereof.

"Takato… don't do this, man," Kazu murmured, shaken at the seemingly black mood wrapping itself around his friend. Not to mention the obsidian flames rising about him. Raising his voice, the Tamer exclaimed, "It's happened before! And look, we're still perfectly fine!"

Mimi, though confused by the turn of events, was quick to add, "Yes, and now we're winning! Right, Palmon?"

The Rookie took a moment to consciously uncross her eyes before she said weakly, "We're doing great… really…"

"_Demon's Disaster!"_

"_V-Wing Blade!"_

The two attacks collided in midair and cancelled each other out, though a fresh burst of ash-laden wind flashed through the clearing into the raging forest fire around it.

"…you're not safe. Not here. Not with him still here."

The Biomerged Mega began to tremble and shake, as though he were standing in the middle of an Arctic wasteland.

"…he has to be stopped."

The jet black blaze surged once, twice, before shooting up into the sky as a pillar of dark fire, concealing Gallantmon in its center. From behind Taomon's shield, the group cried out in alarm. Rika and Kazu, in particular, felt a wave of panic rise up in their chests. Something similar to this had happened before, and the memories of that event were hitting home in a way that was anything but comforting.

Yelping at a sudden change in temperature, AeroVeedramon ignored ChaosGallantmon—who had frozen in place with an indescribable expression on his face—and turned a crimson eye on the towering conflagration that now dominated the clearing. "Aw, nuts…"

It had turned cold. Deathly cold. Even the uncontrolled forest fire seemed to quail and momentarily wither at the icy breath that suddenly enveloped the forest. Unbearable heat turned to wintry chills, and some embers flying through the air froze and quickly fell apart in small showers of ice crystals and soot.

ChaosGallantmon's eyes narrowed in intense concentration. "Perhaps I counted you out too soon…" A grim smile made its way to his face. "Still… the fact that _I_ helped bring this about… it's quite an accomplishment."

AeroVeedramon growled at the Mega, dividing his attention between him and the hidden Gallantmon. "Stop talking like you're proud of whatever's happening to him. You probably are," he added quickly before the Dark Warrior could respond, "but I don't want to hear it."

Smiling maliciously, ChaosGallantmon took several casual steps back. "Well, then let's just see how this plays out, shall we?"

Suddenly, from within the opaque wall of flames, a horrifying shriek of banshee-like proportions split the air. The humans involuntarily balked and clapped their hands over their ears in a vain attempt to block out the soul-piercing sound. Taomon flinched as her barrier shuddered, and the Ultimate quickly forced a little more of her strength into upholding it.

'_We're going to need to move soon,'_ the Wizard thought worriedly to herself. And the current circumstances certainly contributed to this realization.

The sheet of onyx flames abruptly shifted, expanding outwards. The group instinctively took a step back before they looked down and gasped in surprise; Taomon had decided that right then was a good time to leave. Concentrating, the Ultimate pulled the shielded dome into the air, allowing those it protected to continue standing on its solid floor. Like half of a gigantic snow globe, with humans and Digimon standing inside instead of faux snow, the curved force field floated into the sky, slowly moving over the burning trees below.

The unnatural column of fire began to lose some of its opaqueness, and within the cold inferno, a vast shape materialized before the watchers' eyes.

"That can't be… it couldn't…" Rika murmured, staring below with an expression of abject dismay.

"It's not," Taomon said firmly, her tone sterner than stone.

With the heaving of three pairs of thick, leathery, cerise wings, the flames were parted and abandoned to the howling winds. Feral crimson eyes with slitted pupils, shielded behind a 

twisted looking helmet of spikes and wicked hooks, gazed out at the world with naught but an abyssal, sinister intention. As a draconic, yet strangely human, body flexed—displaying sheets and rippling waves of unyielding muscle—even ChaosGallantmon looked on in utter shock.

The colossus of a being was dearly two dozen feet high; longer, from the points of the head's dual arching horns to the end of a lashing tail, which was tipped with a trebly barbed blade.

Davis, Mimi, and Palmon stood speechless and agape, while Taomon and Guardromon looked down on the scene with downcast familiarity.

"Shades of Megidramon…" Kazu whispered forlornly, staring at his unrecognizable friends in fearful sorrow.

Rika just sank to her knees and shook her head slowly, her eyes distant, yet beyond troubled.

And the monster reared back its head and roared.

XxXxX

/DigiWorld Beta. _The Seventh Heaven. _9:23 p.m./

"…and Astamon takes the hand with a Trio of threes, under Second Cat," Kuzuhamon said evenly before taking back the cards proffered by the players. Astamon took this opportunity to scoop up his winnings for the round and begin stacking them neatly; the Ultimate already had a sizable pile accumulated in front of him, and this new win had increased its size respectably.

Kenta rubbed his eyes and refocused on the game. As time had progressed, the mysterious Lilithmon's irresistible aura had faded enough for one's mind to be kept solely on the game… with a certain amount of concentration.

Still, the disconcerting feeling of being watched—along with the Digimon's allure—occasionally drew Kenta's eyes back to the… unnervingly attractive figure seated next to Astamon and Kuzuhamon.

Noticing the Tamer's scrutiny, Lilithmon winked subtly and blew a small kiss from the tip of her fingers.

Kenta's face began to glow, and he tried to slump out of sight against the circular lounge's wall.

An absent area of the teenager's mind somehow managed to note, quite detachedly, that Lilithmon did not reveal her right arm from beneath the billowy purple sleeves of her black dress. Every action the Digimon took that required a hand was accomplished with only her left, while her right arm hung loosely at her side the entire time.

Such a thought was a welcome distraction to the Tamer. At the moment, only his loyalty to his partner—and, to some extent, Gamblermon—was keeping Kenta from sliding along the wall so he could leave. There was something… vaguely discomforting about the situation.

_'Like they say, let your conscience be your guide…'_ Kenta said to himself in a slightly uneasy sing-song tone.

Definitely a welcome distraction.

"How's the game going?"

The sudden voice, along with the warm hand unexpectedly settling on his shoulder, caused Kenta to jump weakly. Turning, the Tamer was met with the smiling, radiant face of one Sora Takenouchi.

_'It's like being stuck between two works of arts…' _Kenta pondered, as the thought came out of nowhere, _'…and the images they're conjuring REALLY do not belong here.'_

_'For one thing, Matt would kill me if he were still here and if he knew what I was thinking. That's never a good sign.'_

"You know," Kenta began shakily, "that's the second time someone's startled me like that." Really, what was going on? His perception of things had started sliding out of focus within the past, oh… fifteen minutes. Which was exactly the time that Lilithmon had arrived.

Wonderful. _That_ wasn't a glaring danger sign, oh no…

"Sorry," Sora said apologetically, still smiling. Kenta squirmed under her regard, but the DigiDestined didn't seem to notice. "I didn't think about that before I saw you."

"Uh, yeah. No problem…"

Things were starting to feel really uncomfortable, and the hairs on Kenta's neck were beginning to stand up. A subtle—at least, _he _thought so—glance confirmed that Lilithmon's mischievously playful gaze had settled on him and Sora.

Sora continued on, oblivious, "I thought you might want to see something. You're going to be surprised."

"See something?" Kenta repeated, confused, dragging his gaze back to Sora.

"Yeah. Come on, I'll show you." Inclining her head, the slender DigiDestined began walking away, gesturing for the Tamer to follow.

Feeling relieved at an excuse to leave, Kenta send a few explanatory hand gestures to MarineAngemon—who, deeply involved in the ongoing card game, spared his partner a glance and a quick grin—and hurried after Sora.

When the Tamer fell into step alongside the auburn-haired girl, he experienced a moment of confusion as Kenta noticed that there was barely half an inch difference in their height; belatedly, the teen realized that the two were nearly the same age at this point.

_'Weird time stuff. I don't know how it all works out, but it's strange being a… peer of all the older DigiDestined…'_

Sora cast a concerned frown at the boy walking beside her. "Kenta? You feeling okay?"

"Um… great. Why?"

"Because your hands are shaking."

Kenta looked down in bewilderment before noticing that his hand were, indeed, trembling minutely. Blinking, the Tamer stuffed them into his pockets and tried to pull an easygoing look onto his face. "Oh, you know… worried about MarineAngemon. And Gamblermon. I mean, about them winning. Or losing," he rambled with a sickly grin.

Inside, his thoughts were something along the lines of, _'What the heck?'_

"Riiight," Sora drawled, looking unconvinced. When Kenta offered a sheepish shrug, the girl then grinned. "Don't worry, you're not alone. It's not often your partner gets into a big tournament like this, is it?" The DigiDestined nudged the Tamer in the side with her shoulder, smiling innocently.

A flush manifested itself on Kenta's cheeks, and the world very nearly seemed to tilt one way before resettling itself in the usual direction. "Uh huh. Yeah, yeah…" the Tamer stuttered as he purposefully glanced into another lounge, full of card players. And still, Sora overlooked his awkward reactions.

For the most part.

It seemed to get better as the pair continued walking, navigating the sparse crowd ambling between playing areas. Kenta's mind felt more under control, and Sora's glances during 

conversation didn't evoke such a strong reaction. Still, a silent warning was running up and down his spine like a bead of icy water.

Something was _seriously_ off.

After a while, Kenta had the presence of mind to ask, "So… where're the others? I mean, I know Matt and Gabumon left to go check up on Beelzemon, but what's everyone else doing?"

"They're waiting for us," Sora replied vaguely, gaining an impish glint in her reddish honey-toned eyes.

They were very warm eyes.

_'Get a grip, get a grip, get a freaking grip, Kenta…'_

"…right…" the Tamer said faintly.

"So, you never did tell me how it's going back there," Sora pointed out, raising her eyebrows enquiringly.

Kenta took a calming breath before replying (his gaze intentionally dancing around the rest of the room), "Let's see… Astamon's got the most money at the moment; Gamblermon says he's probably an expert at the game, and he's the only one who's, uh… playing with his full wits at the moment. I mean, aside from _her_…"

Spine shivering slightly at the thought of Lilithmon, it took Kenta a moment to notice the questioning gaze being sent his way. "Ah, sorry. Um… the Digimon in black? Lilithmon. She's sort of… distracting."

Sora quickly displayed a wickedly amused grin upon seeing the flustered look on her companion's face. "I think I noticed. But you were saying?"

"…Lilithmon's not too far behind Astamon. She's sort of quiet and reserved in the way she plays the game, so I think she just started recently. But she… seems to have other advantages."

_'Like keeping everyone else from thinking with a clear head.'_

_'…funny, that seems to answer a few questions.'_

"Mm hmm," Sora hummed in the meanwhile, eyes shining in mirth.

Eager to change the subject, Kenta hastily added, "MarineAngemon and Gamblermon are doing pretty well; they're about tied money-wise. They're playing against each other, sure, but I think they try to make sure that one of them stands the best shot at winning a round. I don't know how honest that is, but it seems to be working well enough. FlaWizardmon's staying in the game, but he mostly wins with good cards and heavy bets." Pushing his glasses back up the bridge of his nose, the Tamer said self-consciously, "At least, that's what it looks like."

Sora's mischievous expression faded somewhat as she nodded her head thoughtfully. "Well, that's good. Because the results of this tournament might turn out to be more important than we thought."

"Huh?"

As the two reached the center of the large playing hall, Sora gestured to a series of elevated pedestals and stands—covered in glass cases—that stood in a ring, closely surrounded by a one of those velvety red ropes and gold colored posts that you might see in a formal business setting, like at a high-end bank or hotel. Congregated next to one stand in particular was the rest of the group; Tai, Agumon, and Ai were looking into the glass case intently, while Biyomon and Suzie waved their hands in greeting.

His curiosity finally gaining a dominant position over the strange thoughts and feelings that had begun plaguing him, Kenta raised an eyebrow at Sora. The teen just grinned until they all stood together.

"So… what's up?"

Tai jerked a thumb at the display. "Care to guess what this is?"

Mentally shrugging at the indirectness surrounding his friends, Kenta looked into the glass—warily noting the reflection of a Gorillamon, who was standing nearby as though he were a guard—and promptly blinked at the bedazzling colors that flooded his optic nerves.

It was an exquisite bracelet, worked in a silvery, glittery metal that formed elegant, parallel curves all along its length. It first made Kenta think of the kind of lattice—albeit somewhat elongated—that one might see in a gazebo or rose trellis, wrapped around itself. In the next moment, it seemed more like a tightly spun spider web, with a kind of flexible yet firm strength that made the Tamer assume that it was nigh unbreakable.

The gems were the real treat, though. Topaz, lapis lazuli, amethyst, sapphire, and opal could all be found along the bracelet's length; each glittering jewel was set in a slot in-between the flowing curves of the metal base. The precious gems sparkled under the steady light of the electric chandeliers above as though they were rippling liquids instead of solid minerals.

And at the center of the unclasped bracelet was a single breathtaking jewel, substantially larger than the rest. At first glance, Kenta thought it was a frosty, multi-faceted diamond, but when his eyes roved back to it a moment later, it had gained a yellowish-orange tint.

"That's gotta be Gamblermon's," the Tamer declared distantly, his eyes drinking in the superb piece of jewelry.

"We figured as much," Sora said matter-of-factly. "But take out your Digivice."

Kenta blinked as his eyes rose to meet the DigiDestined's. "You're… not telling me it's alive, are you? That it's a Digimon?"

"No, silly!" Biyomon snorted. "See for yourself!"

With a shrug, Kenta pulled out his gray-ringed D-Arc… and stared in disbelief at the results that the compass function was displaying.

"…the _bracelet_ is the True Portal?"

"That's what it looks like," Agumon said dryly. Suzie, meanwhile, grinned widely.

"Gamblermon _did _say that it was kind of magical," the girl stated cheerily.

Chuckling, Tai said, "I'm not exactly sure that's what he meant…"

"Yeah, I think he was talking about the romantic aspect of the thing," Kenta recalled, rubbing the side of his face with a hand. A moment later, he then mentioned, "Well, at least we don't have to go looking for the Portal, now. We know exactly where it is."

"Unfortunately," Sora interjected, "we don't know how to activate it. And I don't think Gamblermon does, either; if he'd known anything about its ability to create gateways to other worlds in the first place, he would have mentioned it to us."

"Which sort of suggests that we're going to have trouble making it work, right?" Ai questioned, her eyes slipping back to the exquisite trinket. "It's going to be like a puzzle, and we don't have a clue where to start solving it."

Tai sighed. "Yeah, pretty much. It can't be something simple, or else Gamblermon or his old girlfriend would have found out by themselves already."

_"Fiancée,"_ Suzie corrected with a dreamy giggle.

"And to add to that little dilemma," Biyomon added, attempting to continue the conversation, "we can't do anything with it unless we _win_ it. Mister Muscles over there," the Rookie said, jerking her head to indicate the nearby Gorillamon, "won't let us do anything more than handle it."

Feeling overcome with a sudden impulse, Kenta leaned over the velvet rope to gain a closer view of the bracelet on display. Absently following Biyomon's comment, the Tamer murmured vaguely, "I wonder what it feels like. I guess it'd be hard—I mean, it's metal—but is it like glass, or something else?"

"You'll get different answers from each of us," Agumon replied, shaking her head. Tai elaborated by saying, "I thought it was pretty smooth—and everyone else agrees—but it felt pretty warm to me. Ai and Suzie both said that it was sort of chilly to the touch."

"Weird," Kenta murmured. Tapping a finger against the rope suspended between him and the cased bracelet, the Tamer chewed at the inside of his cheek.

Somehow, the bracelet felt important to him. And _not _just because it was their ticket home. No, there was something else about it that called to him… as though it had something to say that he needed to hear.

A great dark hand suddenly descended on the top of the glass case. Taking a quick step back in surprise, Kenta looked up to see that the nearby Gorillamon had silently padded over to them, and was now looking at the Tamer with a half irritated, half resigned expression. Noting the human's confusion, the Gorillamon rolled his eyes and lifted the transparent container off the stand, leaving Gamblermon's bracelet open to the world.

Blinking, Kenta pointed at the jewelry tentatively. "You don't mind if I…?"

The Beast Digimon let out a huff and stepped back, fixing the Tamer with a vigilant, intimidating gaze.

Kenta got the point: touch, but don't take. Or else.

At that point, Sora leaned in and said encouragingly, "Go ahead. We're allowed to handle it a little, at least. To 'ensure the quality of the merchandise,' or something. He's not much of a talker, but he got the message across to us earlier."

The lessened distance between Kenta and the auburn-haired DigiDestined—along with the faintest smell of cinnamon wafting from her shoulder length locks—suddenly brought back both the earlier flood of disorientation and the primal heat in his face. Abruptly, a series of instinctive thoughts and scenarios began to run through Kenta's mind at an accelerated pace.

Most of them were decidedly inappropriate for the current circumstances, as they featured a certain, attractive DigiDestined rather prominently in the foreground. A number more were inappropriate _period_.

The haze of mind-clouding red didn't diminish as Sora stepped back, smiling expectantly. And so, it was with a visibly concealed effort—without such, people would have started asking some concerned questions very quickly—that Kenta shook his head clear of cobwebs and tentatively reached out his trembling hand. Under the Gorillamon's watchful eye, he hastily brushed his fingertips over the enigmatic gem embedded in the middle of the bracelet.

Instantly, a wave of pure, liquid heat shot up his arm and into his chest. Gasping quietly, the Tamer blinked in astonishment and awe as his pulse suddenly began to pound through his body.

It was a though a thousand trumpets had sounded in his head. Outwardly paralyzed, Kenta inwardly quailed as he felt two potent forces collide within himself. On one side was an intoxicating mist of crimson, violet, and guilty pleasure. On the other, a soft, yet unyielding light of silver and gold shone steadily, piercing the deceptive illumination.

The warring sensations set the Tamer's mind ablaze with conflicting impulses and conscious thought. Time became compressed in an instant as Kenta saw a whirl of colors and images flash by, blinding his mind's eye.

_…flesh smoother and softer than silk…_

_Soulful eyes full of warm mirth and gentle regard._

_… the dervish of a passionate dance spiraling around and around…_

_Light laughter and the playful rustling of wings and feathers._

_…a hot wind of consuming hunger and irresistible need…_

_A refreshing breeze of sincere affection and selfless caring._

_…pain, rage, oblivion…_

_Shared tears, shared anger, shared joy._

_…empty eyes, empty heart, empty soul…_

_Brimming with contentedness, with tranquility, with serenity._

_…'I'm lost in the gloom, I'm lost in my mind, I'm lost to all I was'…_

_"Home is where your heart is. That means my home is with you."_

_…'I want satisfaction, I crave fulfillment, I need freedom'…_

_"Love is really something grand, isn't it? It's like wings that set you free."_

_…'is this really what you want?'…_

_"How could you want anything else?"_

In a tempest of emotion and thought, the internal conflict reached its climax. Blended together in an unrecognizable mix of pain and pleasure, the mess that was the field of Kenta's mind roiled in its agonizing battle.

Then the mist parted and fled, dissolving in the wake of the unassailable light which had conquered it.

And just like that, a translucent veil seemed to lift from the teen's mind, leaving Kenta with a sense of elated peace… and a submerged kernel of intuitive understanding.

Finally regaining conscious control of his body, the Tamer breathed in raggedly… and saw the reflection of his inner war, and its merciful ending, reflected in the brilliantly gold jewel in the middle of the bracelet before him.

Quivering in relief and incomprehension, Kenta took a step back and looked at his companions cautiously.

Strange. Tai and Sora's eyebrows were raised slightly, and Biyomon's head was tilted in curiosity, but nothing else seemed amiss on any of their faces. Had he been out of it for a shorter time than he had felt?

Clearing his throat, and shaking his head in a purposefully sheepish expression, the Tamer stuck his hands in his pockets and attempted to appear casual. Inside, however, he breathed a heady sigh of relief: his mind felt like his own again. Gone were the reckless whims and heated dizziness. In its place was a soft, gentle lake of easy thought and pure sensation.

Taking a moment to relish the still harmony, Kenta soon began to consider—from a remote distance—the instinctive knowledge that had clicked into place.

He barely suppressed a shudder at the implications.

'…_if that hadn't happened… when would it have stopped?'_

Kenta didn't like to think about it.

Meanwhile, Tai observed the conflicting emotions on the Tamer's face with an inquisitive expression. "That's funny. None of us got quite that same level of reaction," he mused aloud.

"…really?" Kenta asked, trying to shift attention away from himself. Scratching the back of his head nervously, the Tamer asked, "What did you feel?"

_'And how did you NOT feel what __I__ did!'_

_'…oh. Maybe because I was closer to her, and for so long. Which is not good for the others, if I'm right.'_

Tai, oblivious to Kenta's agitated internal dialogue, began slowly, "Well, my fingers tingled a little bit. And it sort of moved up to my shoulder before it faded."

"Mm hm," Sora hummed in agreement. "I felt like I was being tickled, but it stopped at my elbow."

Kenta was pleased to note that looking at Sora no longer evoked a physical or mental reaction, beyond his usual consideration for the girl. Another piece to the puzzle, which the Tamer had suspected before, was carefully snapped into place.

Ai scuffed her feet on the carpet a little, glancing over at Gorillamon as he carefully replaced the glass covering over Gamblermon's prized bracelet. "I didn't feel much. It was just like touching cool metal, is all." Beside her, Suzie nodded in agreement.

_'…yeah, that might make sense. They're young enough that they probably don't feel, uh… this sort of thing yet,'_ Kenta mused, somewhat relieved. _'Of course, this is all on the assumption that the bracelet… if it recognizes and… pushes it back? Hmm… Gamblermon might know. He has to. And if he doesn't, well… that's still a test back there that'll prove it for sure.'_

Seeing that the others were similarly lost in contemplation—though on vastly different subjects, from Kenta's point of view—the Tamer continued to himself, _'But before I go back, I'd love a way to check on that _other_ point. If she… maybe my Digivice can do it. But not nearby. I can't give anything away yet. Strange that she'd take a chance at coming out in the open if it's true, but… who am I to know how they all think?'_

Kenta was abruptly shaken from his musings as Suzie exclaimed, grinning widely, "I'll bet the bracelet has some kind of special powers! That _has _to explain why everyone feels so weird when they touch it!"

"It's a True Portal," Agumon said simply, "what did you expect?"

Ai sighed and rolled her eyes. "She means _other _powers, silly."

"What else matters besides the 'ability to send us home' part?" Tai asked rhetorically.

Kenta's eye twitched. _'It could matter more than you'd believe, Tai.'_

_'…if I'm right.'_

xxxxx

Matt breathed in the damp air of DigiVegas with a smile… which promptly turned into a grimace as the stale, dirty air of the city forced him to cough repeatedly.

Well, it was still enough to help clear his head. It was strange, really, how it had been so difficult to pull himself away from the match back at the casino. There was a sort of reddish haze in his memory of that point—a dark silk dress and porcelain skin seemed to figure into everything, somehow—but being outside had made things much simpler.

Too bad the air he was breathing wasn't so clear. And, unfortunately, being several stories above the street didn't help much.

Sighing, the DigiDestined patted MetalGarurumon's shoulder to get his attention. "Hey, any sign of Beelzemon?"

The Cyborg grunted a negative. "Not yet. There aren't a whole lot of Digimon below us to mess with my sensors—guess they couldn't stand the rain—but I've really only got good 

readings down a single street at a time. The buildings are too tall and too thick for me to get more than a rough idea of what's happening on the other side."

"So, no Beelzemon," Matt clarified, shaking his head in disappointment. "We've been out here for almost twenty minutes. You'd think we'd have found something by now."

"It's a big city, Matt," MetalGarurumon said, in an attempt to mollify his partner. "The chances of us running into him all of a sudden are pretty low."

"Yeah, I guess," the teen replied, somewhat frustrated. A few moments later, the DigiDestined said aloud, "You know, maybe it's time to change our approach."

"What do you mean?" the Mega asked as deftly turned down a narrower street. Though he didn't mention it, the Cyborg rather enjoyed flying leisurely. He hadn't been able to do so for, well… ever.

Matt, in answer, pulled out his new D-3. Sparing a glance at the blue handgrips and the grayish body, the DigiDestined quickly pulled up the Detect function. "If we can't find Beelzemon directly, then we'll find the thing we're both looking for and see if he shows up. That also saves us a whole lot of trouble later, after the tournament."

It only took a moment for the screen to display a flashing arrow pointing at the bottom of the device. Matt blinked upon realizing this.

"…looks like we passed it a while back."

"Typical," MetalGarurumon snorted. "Guess we need to backtrack—"

The Mega's eyes suddenly narrowed. "…scratch that. I think we found Beelzemon."

"We did?" Matt asked, confused. "Where?"

"Down that alley we're coming up on," the Mega said as he slowed down in flight. "And he's heading towards us. Thing is… I'm sort of sensing two of him."

"…sure you don't need an overhaul, buddy?"

MetalGarurumon didn't have a chance to reply before a figure burst from the alley on foot. The demonic Mega below didn't spare the duo in the air more than an evil grin before he dashed down another narrow street.

Matt's gaze hardened as he watched the being disappear. "I don't think that was our Beelzemon."

"Glad ya could tell!"

The DigiDestined and his digital partner looked back to see Beelzemon Blast Mode emerge from between the buildings where the first Mega had appeared from.

Gesturing forwards, and not stopping to do so, Beelzemon called out, "Don't just sit dere! Help me catch dat Demon Lord!"

It only took an instant for Matt and MetalGarurumon to put on speed and follow both of the other Megas down the second alley.

"Never a dull day," Matt grumbled as he and his partner fell in behind Beelzemon.

"It's like that Chinese curse," MetalGarurumon commented in a lighter tone. "'May you live in interesting times.'"

"I guess being Japanese doesn't exclude us from the effects, then."

XxXxX

/DigiWorld Alpha. 9:33 p.m./

In ten minutes, the forest fire had become a hellish inferno. From the top of the scorched and bare hill, Mimi looked on in dumb disbelief. Even half a mile away, it was far too easy to see what was happening near the remains of the Mikemon village.

Or rather, where the treetop village used to be. There wasn't a shred of evidence that supported the idea that the settlement had ever existed, now. There wasn't even much of a forest left in that area. Just a sea of fire and a curtain of roiling smoke, obscuring the view of the long-abandoned clearing.

Not to mention the two who had so utterly decimated the area.

Mimi winced as a fresh river of crimson and gold flames poured from a single point deep within the smoke. Even from this distance, and even with the breather of such death veiled from sight…

The girl trembled.

Looking unusually down, Davis grunted quietly. "…SkullGreymon was nothing next to this." The gogglehead's gaze drifted to AeroVeedramon, who hovered uncertainly some ways from the major conflict, just barely visible amidst the smoke.

A slightly hysterical giggle threatened to erupt from Mimi's mouth, but the DigiDestined held it back with an iron force of will. Drawing a breath, she murmured, "And you didn't even see him the first time."

In another time, Kazu might have taken this opportunity to mention Megidramon, and how the corrupted SkullGreymon didn't hold so much as a candle to the Evil Dragon. Then he might have compared Megidramon with the current fiend wreaking havoc, and dismiss the former as an unruly lizard.

But Kazu had come a long way from the boy he had been some years ago. Now, he could only stare out towards his friends—who were somehow trapped in the rampaging body of a mad, feral Digimon—and wish with all the fiber of his being that something good would happen. That the solution to this life-threatening dilemma would be revealed in a flash of inspiration…

…or something. Anything, really, was fine with him.

Beside him, Rika was also silent. She was no longer stunned senseless, but was now intent on the hidden battle being waged between ChaosGallantmon and…

…just what _was_ Takato and Guilmon now?

As another explosion rocked the air around them, Taomon turned to her Tamer and asked calmly, "Should I involve myself now, Rika?"

The girl grimaced and hesitantly shook her head. "No. If I was strong enough to Biomerge with you, then nothing could stop us from going out there… but I'm not, and there's no way I'm going to let you risk yourself in this kind of fight alone."

Next to her, Davis scowled. "Hey, that's the way _we've_ been doing business for years! Just because you can't reach Mega this very second doesn't mean you should stop fighting!"

In a flash, Rika shot back angrily, "Look, _gogglehead_, what makes you think that going in there is going to help any of us? Let's break down the scenario and see if we can get it to make sense to you," she added bitingly.

"First, we've got two powerful Megas—if Takato and Guilmon are still even _at _that level—duking it out down there. They're not going to let anything get between them. ChaosGallantmon, at least, is going to take apart any interference; you can tell he's serious now—he was before we left—and I doubt he can afford a distraction. And I _definitely_ don't want to test Takato's reaction," the Tamer added, a trace of both uneasiness and concern 

momentarily underlying her sharp tone. However, she soon continued strongly, "Second, this little hill we're standing on? It's practically the only safe place for us humans to be right now. Everything else is either up in flames or too far away from the battle to do anyone any good. Add to that the fact that the heat here is bad enough, even with Taomon around to keep things in check if they get any worse. We can't get any closer, and we'll be out of sight if we get off this hill."

"Third? What kind of backup do you think we have? AeroVeedramon's still in the game, sure, but do you honestly want him in the middle of those two down there? Palmon's out for the count, Guardromon's a Champion, and we're defenseless against everything without Taomon. I don't know about you, but I don't feel like having barbeque!"

"'Specially when it's _us_," Palmon said woozily. The Rookie was standing on her own now, but she still swayed from time to time, and it was painfully obvious that she wasn't going to be able to do anything useful for a while.

Davis clenched both his fists and his jaw… before they slackened in resignation. "Okay, okay, I get it. So what are we gonna do?"

Before Rika could answer, Kazu interjected, "There's not much we _can _do now. Just stand back and let the two of them go at it."

A defeated silence met this pronouncement. Mimi absently wiped at the dried flood flecks on her right cheek, while Davis looked out at the burning woodland grimly. Kazu, turning to look at Rika, saw that the redhead had gained a slightly lost, regretful expression. So often, Rika Nonaka had the passion and determination to do anything she set her mind to… but this entire affair had dampened her spirits. First, her body had betrayed her to a weakening infection, and now two of her friends were trapped in an ominous web that no one understood.

And she could do nothing about it.

Suppressing a grimace, Kazu tried to turn his mind back to the far off battle. Casting his eyes on the distant fires and occasional flashes of silver light, the Tamer murmured, "You know, things would probably feel a bit more comfortable if we could at least give a name to whatever it is that Takato and Guilmon turned into."

Rika half glanced at her fellow Tamer before her gaze slowly drifted back to the flames licking at the murky sky.

'_It's brighter than it should be,'_ she thought to herself idly. _'Every tree in front of us for a mile is its own bonfire, and the smoke's reflecting all the light back to the ground.'_

She shivered uneasily. Though the unnatural coldness prompted by Gallantmon's… _transformation_ had quickly become searing heat once again, a chill ran up Rika's spine.

The air was suddenly rent by another draconic scream. Rika flinched and unconsciously raised a hand to ward off the piercing sound. Behind her, Mimi gasped and fell to her knees, clasping her arms around herself as she shuddered.

This distressing cry, however, seemed to put steel into Davis' back. Turning to Kazu, the DigiDestined said, with a resolute glint in his eyes, "I think you've got a good idea. You willing to let AeroVeedramon take you out and see what you can see with that fancy Digivice of yours?"

Kazu, also feeling perversely empowered by the horrifying call, nodded without hesitation. Looking as though she was about to object, Rika opened her mouth and took in a deep breath, ready to unleash a tirade upon her companion. But then, as Kazu's determined gaze shifted to meet hers, the redheaded Tamer silently relented at the last moment. With a narrow, searching look, Rika finally nodded and turned her back on the others.

"If we want to start changing things, let's get to it," she said evenly, apparently addressing the blazing trees before her.

Kazu knew her well enough to realize that, even if he didn't need her consent, he had it.

And, he was surprised to notice, it was actually worth something to him.

Nodding firmly, Kazu shot a glance at Davis. The gogglehead grinned crookedly before whistling loudly to get his partner's attention. As the DigiDestined waved the Ultimate Digimon over, Kazu turned to his own partner and said apologetically, "Sorry you're not exactly suited to this little expedition, Guardromon."

"You need not explain, Kazu," the Champion replied earnestly. "I realize that my limited maneuverability would endanger us both. I shall await here until such a time when I can be useful to you."

Kazu half smiled, satisfied and not a little proud of his best friend. "I can always count on you, pal. I just… sort of wish you could rely on me that way."

Guardromon blinked. "But, Kazu, I do."

Kazu opened his mouth to respond, but the reflexively surprised response faded into a rueful smile. "…thanks, Guardromon. That means a lot to me."

Inclining his head graciously, the Champion took a step back to allow AeroVeedramon more room to land on the small hill surrounded by fire. A few quick words with Davis were all it took for the Ultimate to allow Kazu to climb onto his back before taking off shortly afterwards. As the two ascended into the stiflingly hot, smoky air, Kazu glanced back over his shoulder.

…he had some good friends down there.

'_And I'm not going to let them down. Never. Not today, not tomorrow…never.'_

As the smoke thickened and blackened around them, AeroVeedramon growled in his deep voice, "You think we'll be able to get close enough to get a look at both of them?"

Kazu nodded as a thunderclap—too close for comfort, really—popped his ears. "I don't think they'll notice us. They're probably too busy pounding on each other."

"…what do you think we'll see?"

The flapping of the Ultimate's wings caused the smoke to write and dance weightlessly in the air around them, and Kazu found himself watching the eye-watering movement as though he were looking into a cloudy crystal ball.

"…judging from what we saw just before everything got shot to hell? Nothing good."

AeroVeedramon grunted, a frown nearly audible in the utterance. Kazu opted for silence, and instead trained his eyes—which were becoming bloodshot from all the fire-spawned air pollution—straight ahead, trying to pierce the dark pall.

And then, like eye of a hurricane, everything was clear.

A howling wind had purged the clearing of smoke and fumes, and now carried burning embers and glowing plant life through a dozen small cyclones spiraling high into the air. The source of this wind was the constant, frenzied beating of three vast pairs of awe-inspiring wings, each the color of a wilting rose, sprouting from a broad, heavily muscled back. These wings, as wide and thick as they were, attracted Kazu's attention first.

Next, the Tamer noticed the body of the monster. Thicker than Megidramon, and only slightly more humanoid in form than Growlmon, it was quickly made obvious that this being was more of a juggernaut than anything Kazu had seen before. Thick, trunk-like legs supported the Digimon as though they were miniature mountains, but they still possessed enough speed to send the incredible mass they carried through dexterous dances; the constantly beating wings probably helped in this respect.

And all the major areas of his body were sheathed in wicked, angular armor the color of fresh blood. Chest, heavily muscled limbs, feet and hands… the gauntlets, in particular, looked especially cruel with slender, jutting triangles of jagged metal placed all along their tops. Each of the spikes—which probably measured twice the length of Kazu's hands—faced forwards sharply, so that even a glancing blow would tear flesh from bone with little to no resistance.

Everything not covered in metallic armor displayed a sheet of long, slim scales that Kazu thought would make excellent tips for ballistae the size of small tanks. Each individual scale overlapped the one below it almost seamlessly, leaving no visible weak point, yet still shifting fluidly with the body's motions like a cloak of bloody water.

But then, Kazu's sight was inexorably pulled to the head of the beast.

A helmet that looked equally appropriate atop an eldritch wraith crowned and shielded the rampaging creature's cranium. Spikes jutted and hooks curled from the onyx headpiece, giving the impression of a torturer's chamber compacted into a single piece of visually offensive armor. An image—that of a dead, corrupted forest with trees of black glass in deepest night—sprang unbidden to Kazu's imagination, causing the Tamer to shudder at the brutal message it forcefully sent.

Then the beast turned, and Kazu caught a glimpse of its gaze.

From pools of glowing crimson streaked with sharp gray, slitted pupils stared out with a disturbingly empty expression. Kazu recoiled and hastily averted his own eyes; even AeroVeedramon flinched at the menacing sight. Then the bottomless eyes turned, leaving one last detail for the nearby Tamer to discern.

Or rather, for the teen to notice its conspicuous absence.

There was no visible sign of a hazard symbol. None whatsoever: not even the faintest etching in the center of the sturdy breastplate.

Kazu finally exhaled.

"…right."

AeroVeedramon could find nothing to say.

Hand shaking slightly, Kazu grasped his Digivice and silently urged the behemoth to pay them no attention.

Indeed, there was plenty else for the huge Digimon to concentrate on.

In the clearing below—which had substantially increased in size with the arrival of the new being and the continuing work of the forest fire—ChaosGallantmon was moving like a blur, trying to stay one step ahead in a battle that, now that Kazu had taken a full five seconds to look over the twisted form of his friends, left the Tamer unsettled.

The Dark Warrior's tattered cape had long since been abandoned, and the dull gleam of the Mega's dark armor had disappeared in favor of a sooty, scorched look. Dents and deep furrows in the armor were clearly visible, and Kazu thought he could see a trace of desperation in ChaosGallantmon's sulfurous eyes.

But what was he preparing to evade?

"_Obsidian Shards," _came an unearthly void of a hissed voice.

'…_oh.'_

In an instant, all the visible scales on the behemoth's body suddenly spread outwards like a rapidly unfolding pinecone, standing on end. Where once there was an impenetrable defense of smooth, metallic plates, there was now a bristling array of razor-pointed scale slivers.

Then, there was a blurred cloud of black shadows in the shape of those needle-like plates whizzing through the air.

Fortunately for Kazu and Guardromon, the attack was only being focused in one general direction. Unfortunately for ChaosGallantmon, the attack was being focused in _his _general direction.

In the space of a second, half a dozen new, yawning grooves became visible on the Dark Warrior's armor. Grunting in suppressed, pain, ChaosGallantmon reared back Balmunc and returned, _"DEMON'S DISASTER!"_

The monster's scales folded back down into their defensive position, and the energy beam exploded against them harmlessly.

A moment later, there sounded a ghastly scream that set the hairs on the back of Kazu's neck standing upright. It was similar to the one that the Tamer had heard earlier, but this one might have held the tiniest grain of smug pleasure.

When Kazu finally unclenched his eyes and pulled his hands from his ears, he registered that his Digivice was blinking.

Trying to ignore a fresh volley of powerful attacks from ChaosGallantmon on the ground, the Tamer looked at the single word displayed on his D-Arc's screen.

_Processing…_

"…this is new."

Beneath Kazu, AeroVeedramon suddenly gulped loudly. "Uh… Kazu?"

Looking up from the Digivice, the Tamer asked warily, "Yeah? What's…?"

The beast had raised its gauntleted hands to the sky, and they were glowing with a writhing scarlet aura that left very little doubt in Kazu's mind that something bad was about to happen.

"…AeroVeedramon."

"…yeah?"

"…can we please move away? Now?"

The Ultimate needed no more encouragement. With a burst of speed, the Phantom Dragon gave a mighty beat of his wings, sending him and his human passenger backwards, still facing the scene beginning to unfold.

And with a ghostly voice, it began.

"_Fey Inferno."_

Kazu slapped AeroVeedramon's shoulder repeatedly to urge greater speed; the Tamer's eyes, however, were immovably fixed on the sky. Upon glancing upwards, the Ultimate's face went ashen. Then, with a titanic effort, the Digimon sped—faster than he had even flown before in any of his own forms—back into the wall of smoke that surrounded the smoldering battlefield.

Then the sky began to fall in a meteoric tempest that ignited the very air.

Kazu howled in agony as a wave of searing heat slammed into his back, nearly causing the convulsing Tamer to fall from his aerial mount; likewise, AeroVeedramon roared in distress, but pushed onwards, pumping his wings for all they were worth.

The pair flew through a conflagration the likes of which neither had seen before. Flames didn't just seem to rise in the air; they _were_ the atmosphere, and everything in it. Even the smoke itself was forced out of existence by the unquenchable blaze, and all that was left to see was a solid wall of yellow-white fire.

Only the faintest blue aura surrounding AeroVeedramon prevented the pair—Kazu especially—from roasting alive. An instinctive, rudimentary defense, it did not prevent their skin from burning or Kazu's clothes from catching alight at the ends.

As Kazu frantically patted out the smoldering fabric—adrenaline preventing him from feeling too much pain at that very second—AeroVeedramon finally burst from the inferno with an anguished cry. Then, they crashed into the ground senselessly.

When Kazu regained consciousness some moments later, he immediately began wheezing dryly, and he reflexively rolled into a fetal position as his lungs rebelled against the insidious irritants that had been flying through the air.

Then, as his coughing fit subsided, Kazu gradually became aware of hands on his right shoulder and arm; he was lying on his left side in the ashy dirt, and he could taste both the sterility of the ground and the shortness of oxygen in the searing air.

When the pain finally hit in full, the Tamer's back arched in an intense spasm. It was then that Kazu learned that pain—_real_ pain—had a color. Blinding white; the color of utter, mindless agony which burned the body from the inside out, setting nerves ablaze in a sensation that stole the teen's breath and any notion of ever breathing again.

For an instant, Kazu Shioda truly thought that he was dying. And perhaps he might have, had Taomon not been nearby.

While gifted with mystical powers, the healing arts were not Taomon's specialty; if anything, Sakuyamon was far better suited to such a job. MarineAngemon, in comparison would have been by far the best candidate for the situation. However, Taomon's limited ability was enough to first take the edge off the paralyzing pain, and then begin a kind of crude, rapid healing.

As flesh slowly regained its former color and texture—losing the abnormal smoothness of serious burns and heat blisters—Kazu began to breathe steadily again, though it came in great, excruciating gasps.

When he at last felt up to it, he squeezed the hand that he suddenly found gripping his own, and he was gently raised to a sitting level. Blinking slowly, as though with new eyes, the Tamer looked up into the white faces of his friends. Even Rika looked more shaken than he had ever seen her.

But Guardromon, from his position between Taomon and Palmon, quietly—calmly, even—looked into his Tamer's eyes for a long moment. Suddenly feeling a kind of strength that Kazu had always associated with the selfless bond of a human and a Digimon, the teen sent a pacifying, nonverbal message to his partner with his steady gaze. Guardromon nodded a moment later, looking pleased.

Breathing labouredly, in her own uninjured way, Mimi then asked quietly, "Are you…?" Stopping and shaking her head, she began again, "How do you feel…?" She cut herself off again, looking mortified.

Kazu tried to wave a hand in dismissal, and found the action somewhat less painful than breathing. "I think…" Coughing at the rawness of his throat, the Tamer quickly sent a look of thanks to Taomon, whose hands were glowing slightly as they hovered in front of his chest.

"…I should be… good." Twisting his head around, he asked brokenly, "What about… AeroVeedramon?"

A momentous groan was his first answer, which was quickly followed up by Davis' strained comment, "He looks better than you do! No worries, he'll be fine after a quick breather!"

"Speak for yourself," the Ultimate moaned. "I feel like I was stuffed into a turkey and thrown into the oven…"

"See?" Davis said, flashing a forced grin at the rest of the group. "He's fine."

Guardromon immediately stepped towards the Ultimate and said gratefully, "I must thank you, AeroVeedramon; you protected my partner and brought him back safely. It is my honor to fight at your side."

The Phantom Dragon wearily raised a clawed hand in acknowledgement. "Eh, anytime. No, wait, I'd prefer not to go through that again if I can avoid it…"

Kazu coughed again before saying pointedly, "Okay, now that we've settled that, what's going on down there?"

The flames in the valley had all but disappeared; there simply wasn't anything left to burn. Only a few trees that looked more like charcoal than plant matter continued to smolder and glow. Everything else was black ash and glassy dirt; even the low-lying smoke had finally dissipated, probably due to the incredible attack that had been unleashed upon the land and sky. It was likely for this reason that the smell of pungent ozone became particularly noticeable in the diminished scent of everything else.

And at the center of the dead valley stood a very battered ChaosGallantmon, loomed over by the savage colossus of flesh and bone which had wrought such unbelievable ruin.

The Dark Warrior was breathing even more unevenly than Kazu had, and the Mega soon spat out a mouthful of dark blood through his helmet's grille.

"…have to say… I'm impressed, Tamer," the Dark Digimon said slowly, sagging on his feet. "I never… thought that… beings such as you … and your partner could… play so rough."

With an effort, the Mega looked up into an unfeeling pair of crimson eyes… and smirked weakly.

"I might die… in a few moments… but the funny thing is… I've still won. I've destroyed you."

There was a prolonged pause, where neither combatant moved. And yet, a flash of buried emotion played against a void of thoughtless intent deep within the behemoth's eyes. ChaosGallantmon noticed this, and smirked even as his body sent a sharp spike of searing pain to his brain.

Perhaps it was the mystifying nature of the Digital World that allowed these words to carry so clearly. Perhaps the hellish firestorm had altered the very fabric of space in that area, or maybe there was simply a powerful, base connection between those in the valley… but regardless of the reasons, the Dark Warrior's words were received and understood on the hilltop so far away.

Rika gritted her teeth. "This isn't just about who comes out of this fight alive. It's about who's right in the end. ChaosGallantmon provoked Takato and Guilmon into doing something they'd never do otherwise, and he's able to attack their character because of it."

"And that's the victory here?" Palmon asked tiredly. Despite being a bit wilted, the Rookie's head was clearer than it had been for a while. "I don't get it."

It was Davis who nodded in response. "It's like he's trying to make a hero take himself apart to get to the bad guy. A hero shouldn't be able to do that; he'd be _normal_, otherwise. And if everyone's normal… then you might as well do whatever you want, no matter how it affects everyone else, because there's nothing to aspire to. At least… at least, I guess so."

"In other words, if there are no heroes," Taomon stated sorrowfully, "then what basis is there for virtue or selflessness? Only different degrees of villains and sheep would be left in the world."

Rika snorted disdainfully. "Jerk. That's completely pointless. We _know_ 'champions of justice' aren't infallible, but that doesn't lessen them in any way. It just makes them stronger for what they _can _do. And just what makes _us_ eligible for proving his twisted argument?"

"I bet saving the world has something to do with it," Kazu said sardonically.

And still, the massive form that Gallantmon had assumed did not so much as twitch outwardly.

"I sincerely doubt that it was ChaosGallantmon's intention for things to get so far out of his control," Guardromon eventually said, "but now that he accepts that his life may end, he dedicates the remainder of his existence to dismantling what virtue we might perceive in our corrupted friends."

"And if they kill him," Mimi stated slowly, as she came to the conclusion, "then it's over, and there's another battle to be fought afterwards."

Kazu breathed jadedly in understanding. "…Takato and Guilmon. They'll need to find themselves again. They'll be… broken."

AeroVeedramon groaned and put his hands over his eyes, shutting out his view of the apocalyptic world. "This isn't making much sense to me…"

Ignoring her fellow Ultimate, Taomon narrowed her eyes and declared, "Then we need to help the both of them."

"How?" Mimi asked, fixing her watery eyes on the Wizard. "What can we do?"

"We have two options," Taomon replied tersely. "First, we can encourage them to back off and not strike ChaosGallantmon down."

"Yeah, I see that working like a charm," Rika said sarcastically, fixing her eyes on the motionless forms in the shattered valley. "Remember Megidramon? There wasn't any reasoning with _him_, and I kind of doubt ChaosGallantmon will let us try with _this _guy without another fight—that is, if he's crazy enough to throw his life away like that, and that's probably the case. Although, I don't know if he'd be up to much of a scuffle…"

"Which brings me to my second point," the Tamer's partner said firmly, her eyes hard in determination. "We take the decision out of Takato and Guilmon's hands." A flicker of remorse danced in her eyes before she hid it away. For the moment.

Kazu and Mimi shared confused glances, but Davis' mouth thinned a moment later. "That's not showing a lot of faith in the two of them," the DigiDestined stated firmly. However, his tone seemed resigned rather than defensive.

Rika, also comprehending her partner's message, pointed out at the wasteland and said tonelessly, "If they could have stopped themselves by now, I think they would have."

Taomon nodded before anyone else could respond. "I'll take care of it."

"Be careful. We don't know how they'll react," Davis said helpfully, frowning all the while.

The Ultimate nodded. "Of course."

As the Ultimate quickly flew away into the thin, stale air, Palmon said, somewhat annoyed, "Would anyone mind explaining to me what you're talking about?"

A stolid silence was her only response.

Meanwhile, ChaosGallantmon found himself wondering if it would still be possible to walk away from this battle as a living victor.

…the chances seemed rather low.

So he began to chuckle mirthlessly.

"…one last round."

Stiffening his back, and holding his battered head up high, the Dark Warrior turned his scornful, triumphant gaze on the titan of power before him.

"…to make an end…"

Jaded yellow eyes met a pair of deeply crimson orbs.

"…to everything."

Then, raising his shield, striking a deceptively desperate stance better suited to a hero's last stand, ChaosGallantmon screamed, _**"JUDECCA PRISON!"**_

A gushing river of indigo power erupted from the curved surface of Gorgon; and with a piercing tone, the attack tunneled through the air itself as it rushed towards its target.

Suddenly, the colossus that had once been a Tamer and his partner moved. With the movement came the bestial cry, _"Ruinous Purging!"_

Bloody scarlet flames swirled around the wicked gauntlets adorning both of the creature's hands. Then, they funneled together into an overwhelming twister of deeply red and bronze fire, and leapt to intercept the incoming attack.

With a sound like the tolling of a massive iron bell, the opposing energies collided and diffused into each other, forming a rapidly expanding white sphere at their center. The sphere of raw power rippled once, and then exploded violently.

The resulting backlash and whirlwind threw ChaosGallantmon into the ground like a rag doll, and the Dark Warrior slid backwards a dozen yards before coming to a motionless halt.

The towering beast of scales and crimson metal, in contrast, threw back its helmeted head and gave another ear-splitting cry. There was no mistaking the tone of vindictive pleasure in it.

And as the living colossus gloated savagely, the heavens began to pour themselves out in a foul, sullied expression of rainfall.

Then, crimson eyes locked onto the pitiful form of the shattered knight. And a slow, meaningful step was taken. The earth shook beneath the massive form treading its surface, but it could do nothing to stop the monstrosity that that been born upon it.

It was at this point in time that an electronic device beeped—almost in a subdued manner—indicating that its analysis was completed.

xxxxx

_GrimExamon. Mega Level, Stage II. Attribute Unknown. Ruined Knight_. 

_Born from misdirected passions and a well of incredible power, its strength is untold. Its relentless and merciless personality overwhelms all impulses not directly related to the achievement of this Digimon's goal: the utter destruction of that which triggered its corrupted transformation._

xxxxx

Kazu swore long and silently before repeating the data aloud in a forced monotone—a part of him wondered what _Stage II_ meant before realizing that he didn't care. Squeezing her eyes shut, Mimi shuddered at the revelation, and Palmon could do little to reassure her. Davis and AeroVeedramon both exchanged grim looks, while Kazu and Guardromon echoed their silent dialogue.

Rika's expression only hardened, though her eyes shone through the façade, softer and more vulnerable than the Tamer would have been comfortable admitting.

Another step of the newly named GrimExamon, and ChaosGallantmon slowly raised his head from its resting place in the sterile dirt. Coughing brokenly, the Dark Warrior seemed about to speak before thinking better of it. Instead, the Mega gave one last chuckle before spitting on the ground beside him; his contemptuous regard for his vanquisher—the fallen hero—shone clear.

One last step, and then the Ruined Knight raised his armored hands, once more roiling in flame.

"_STOP!"_

Taomon's voice shattered the relative silence, and the massive Digimon turned its empty gaze on the Ultimate, who had appeared suddenly on the ground between him and the fallen warrior.

The Wizard looked up into those crimson eyes and said slowly, with a speck of forlorn hope in her voice, "I know that you can hear me in there, Takato, Guilmon. No matter what you can become, there is always a piece of both of you left behind, buried beneath the monster I see before me." Setting her face in a mask of stone, Taomon continued, "And I know that you are recoiling from this scene, or would if you could see it for yourselves. You are my friends, and I understand you well enough to know this."

GrimExamon's wings flexed slowly, while clawed fingers curled and uncurled absently. His gaze remained fixed on the tiny Ultimate below him, though something behind his eyes subtly shifted in response to her words.

Raising a hand for emphasis, Taomon added, "You wish to do something that helps no one in your present condition. To destroy—to _kill_—as you are now would transform you into a true monster… and I know that you do not want this, no matter what this form may try to convince you of."

On the hilltop, Davis murmured anxiously, "What's she doing?"

Staring at her partner and her corrupted friends so far off, Rika's eyes began to glisten as a weight was lifted from her troubled heart.

"…she's giving them a chance," she whispered in response.

Kazu nodded and added quietly, "She's going with the first option."

It was dangerous, getting between the armored fiend and its prey… but, in the end, it was something that the Tamers could never _not _do.

No matter what they said, they could never give up faith in their friends so easily.

Raising her voice, Taomon concluded, "This task must be done, but not by you! As your friend, let _me_ take your place and dispense justice as you have always wished to see it done!"

GrimExamon tensed, and scarlet flames began to weave around his hands once again. However, Taomon stood her ground, immovable by anything but lethal force.

A collective breath was drawn and held on the hill.

The moment passed over the span of an age. Motionless except for the dancing flames and the dreary rain, all the players of the scene looked on in mingled hope and fear.

Then, something fell into place behind the Ruined Knight's eyes. A flash of understanding and world-bending willpower asserted itself, and the colossus' crimson gaze slowly faded into a muted, tired gold.

"…don't… fool yourself."

Stiffening, GrimExamon's vision sharpened and fixed itself on a beaten Dark Warrior, who was struggling to rise.

"You can't… undo what you've… wrought in your passion," ChaosGallantmon gasped. Though he looked to be in agony, his malice was unabated… and it was fully focused on his former opponent. "You can find… no redemption. I stand as… your testimony."

With a last smile of pure malevolence, the Dark Digimon finished, "I am a monument… to all your sins."

But before the newly enraged GrimExamon could so much as twitch in the fallen Digimon's direction, another being's bellow split the air.

"_YOU MISBEGOTTEN DEMON!"_ Taomon howled as she leapt into the air. _"IF YOU WISH A FUNERAL PYRE, YOU WILL HAVE IT! BUT IT WILL __**NOT**__ BE OF YOUR OWN DESIGN, NOR WILL YOU TAKE OUR FRIENDS WITH YOU TO THE PIT!"_

Sweeping her calligraphy brush through the air with furious precision and speed, the Ultimate cried out, with all her might, _**"TALISMAN OF LIGHT!"**_

The light from the ethereal kanji blazed brighter than the midday sun, and the dirty rain in its path burst into steam instantly. ChaosGallantmon had one last moment of lucid thought—in which bitter disappointment and undying hatred flashed through his mind—before all thought ceased for the Dark Warrior.

When the attack faded, there was no trace of the wicked Digimon left behind.

On the hilltop, Davis and Kazu both let out a whoop before quickly silencing themselves. This wasn't quite over yet.

Taomon slowly turned around to face GrimExamon… and found an indecipherable play of emotions displayed in his now golden eyes.

A low growl began to rumble deep in the Ruined Knight's throat, and his fingers twitched as though he wanted to place them around Taomon's throat and _squeeze_. But then, the snarl slowly became a long, keening cry that, while still unearthly, did not disturb its listeners quite so much as it had before.

True remorse could be felt in this forlorn call.

Then it was silent. GrimExamon's shoulders drooped and his gaze dropped to the ground languidly.

Mimi sagged before falling to her knees. Pressing her hands over her eyes, and hugging Palmon to her tightly she asked, between dry, wracking breaths, "Is it… finally over?"

An assured smile could soon be found on Davis' face. "You know? I think it is," the DigiDestined said joyfully. As though he had been holding it back for an indeterminable time, the teen forcefully threw his fist into the air and hollered loudly, _"YEAH! YOU CAN'T KEEP US DOWN! WOOO!"_

Kazu began to laugh, then sank to the ground as his frame shook. He was helpless as the tension he had felt finally began to drain away. No disrespect to Takato and Guilmon, but he couldn't hold it in any longer. Guardromon, in contrast, chose to express his relief in a simple nod and a long breath.

A small, sad smile slowly bloomed on Rika's face. Her amethyst eyes glittered with moisture, but she did not wipe it away. Instead, her gaze rested on her distant friends and partner.

"…you came through again." Sniffing quietly, the Tamer murmured, "I wish I hadn't doubted you."

And in the valley, Taomon's stern face softened into a considerate smile. Slowly, the Ultimate drifted up to the Ruined Knight's shoulder… and patted it gently.

"We knew you had it in you, _Gallantmon_," she said quietly.

The Mega gave a long, shuddering breath. His form began to waver and glow, and Taomon backed away as the Digimon began to revert…

And then a wave of black fire washed over the pair, causing Taomon to cry out in pain and GrimExamon to snap back to razor-like attention.

On the edge of the valley, Rika stiffened and yelled out, _"What's going on!"_

Celebrations cut short, the group looked on in disbelief as a new figure resolved into view, breaking the curtain of dark rain that fell upon the scorched earth.

"I'm glad to see there's room left for me here," the draconic Digimon growled loudly, his tone perversely pleased. "Now that the battle of ideals is done and over with… how about a simple battle for survival? That suits me very well…"

It didn't take much to guess the name of this newcomer. The color scheme and the achingly familiar body left little to the imagination.

And as BlackMegidramon made himself known on the stage, GrimExamon's eyes narrowed: still golden, but now beyond feral as the Ruined Knight immediately picked up on the waves of dark intention rolling off of the Evil Dragon.

Taomon, burned and dazed, only needed one look at the scene to realize that things were far from over.

She could see only more pain in the near future.

XxXxX

/DigiWorld Beta. _The Seventh Heaven_. 9:51 p.m./

Kenta slid down the wall until he was sitting straight up against it; for the past ten minutes or so, he had endeavored to find a quiet place to hide himself away and figure things out. He had been forced to settle for the quiet hall leading to a couple of rarely used bathrooms, but he wasn't complaining too much.

Ai, Suzie, and Lopmon had opted to retire to _The Cat's Meow_; the frequent yawns of the two girls had made it easy for Lopmon to convince the elder DigiDestined that a little shut-eye as in order for the pair. Despite their protests, both Suzie and Ai had finally allowed themselves to be escorted back to the hotel by the Rookie, as well as Tai and Agumon. Sora and Biyomon were currently drifting between watching games and peering at Gamblermon's mysterious bracelet.

This left Kenta the perfect opportunity to get things straight once and for all.

Of course, this required him to figure out how to utilize his Digivice in the manner he wanted…

Tapping the two buttons on the D-Arc's face repeatedly, Kenta scowled as he consistently failed in bringing up any sort of identification program. Usually, directing his attention to any specific Digimon in the general vicinity was enough to activate the device, but he was trying to keep a low profile. And calling up the data in the presence of the one he was suspicious of would be a dead giveaway.

"Come on, come on," the Tamer muttered under his breath, "Who designed this thing with such a limited interface, anyway? How am I supposed to make this work if I can't get past this whole 'set time' or 'set alarm' stuff!"

At last giving up, Kenta's head slumped against the wall. "Ugh. I really need to find this out for sure if I'm going to do anything about this, but I can't make this piece of junk work. So I can't do anything. Which means I'm stuck."

Kneading his forehead with a fist, the Tamer murmured, "I just need to know if Lilithmon's what I think she is…"

And just like that, the holographic display was activated, and the image it showed caused Kenta to blink in exasperation.

"…I just said her name out loud and…" Eventually chalking up the desired, yet unexpected result to weird Digivices and their fussy nature, the Tamer examined the data carefully.

"Lilithmon," he muttered to himself, absently pleased that the name no longer evoked anything but clear distrust and caution, "Mega level Virus Digimon. Type…"

"…Demon Lord… of Lust. Like I thought. Can't believe I didn't realize it before; Kazu knows more about the Digimon card game, but that doesn't excuse me from missing something so obvious…"

Sighing, both in relief and in new worry, the Tamer glanced over the rest of the biographical info before looking up from his Digivice. The teen then slipped into a thoughtful silence.

_'All those weird feelings I started getting… those were thanks to Lilithmon. She's a Demon Lord, and she—like the others—represents one of the Seven Deadly Sins. Lilithmon's is Lust, of course. She must somehow be able to make other beings feel it whenever she's around them.'_

Shuddering at the implications, Kenta continued to himself, _'No wonder I felt so out of sorts. I don't, uh, usually feel that, much. The wonders of naivety, no doubt.'_

_'But that raises other issues. Obviously, she's messing around with all the other people she's playing the card game with, but that's really not all that important, compared to the fact that there's a DEMON LORD in our midst. The REAL question is, though, what the heck did Gamblermon's bracelet do to me to clear my head of her manipulations?'_

Scratching his head, Kenta cast his memory back to Gamblermon's earlier stories of him and his 'girlfriend.'

_'Let's see: it was special, somehow. He got it years ago from a mysterious stranger, and he doesn't know everything that it can do, just the fact that it had some subtle powers. Add to that the fact that it's a True Portal, and things get even more confusing.'_

_'He gave it to Zephyrmon when they got together, and she kept it until she disappeared one day and Gamblermon found it where she had last been. Sad, but not very important right now.'_

Thoughts churning, Kenta continued slowly, _'Now, if the bracelet—I can't believe I'm thinking this—but if the bracelet stored…'echoes' of their love… then something so pure must have driven out, uh… Lilithmon's influence.'_

Could it be that simple? True love driving out lust?

…something was telling Kenta 'yes, most definitely, just ignore the fact that it was all thanks to an inanimate object.'

"Well, that helps," the Tamer said to himself, groaning, "but we've still got a Demon Lord to deal with, and I've got to tell the others about this whole deal. Couple that with this tournament, and this is turning out to be a heck of a mess."

After a moment, the teen stood and gripped his D-Arc tightly. "Well. No time like the present. I've just got to be very careful when I'm around her…"

As the Tamer began to make his way back to the crowd of Triple Cubed enthusiasts, he thought to himself, _'I really hope that the bracelet's effect is more or less permanent. I don't exactly want to lose my head in the middle of something.'_

_'I get the feeling that would be bad.'_

XxXxX 

A/N: I really don't know if BlackMegidramon has been used by anyone else before as an original creation, but I figure that with the whole 'BlackGuilmon, BlackGrowlmon, etc.' line, I'm pretty safe using this evolution. Even if the normal Megidramon is the typical end to that evolution line…

However, I'm quite sure that GrimExamon is my own. Hope you all like him. Heh. And, if you're curious, his armor is Red Chrome Digizoid.

Yes, there was a blatant Halo quote in the text. It was oddly appropriate (as regarding ChaosGallantmon's ruthlessly beaten and battered state, which was accordingly due to GrimExamon), so I used it.

As for Gamblermon and his fiancée Zephyrmon, you're free to speculate, but it probably doesn't matter much. And no, there's no relation between her and the Kazemon that Beelzebumon killed a few chapters ago. Speaking of which, the Demon Lord of Gluttony's name is now permanently 'Beelzebumon'; I'm not going back to edit previous chapters with this change, however, so bear with me, please.

Thanks, as always, goes to Plasmasphere!

In other news, my first poll is now up. You can reach it on my user profile, so go vote! But review first, or I'll send GrimExamon a-calling!


End file.
